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A MANUAL OF PARLIAMENTAKY PRACTICE. 


RULES 


FOR 


CONDUCTING BUSINESS 


IN 


DELIBERATIVE ASSEMBLIES. 

WSim 


BY 


* 1B90 '* 


P> H. MELL, D. D.. LL.D., 

If 

LATE PROFESSOR OF ETHICS AND METAPHYSICS, AND LECTURER OF PAR¬ 
LIAMENTARY LAW IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 


A NEW AND THOROUGHLY REVISED EDITION. 


MACON, GEORGIA : 

J. W. BURKE & CO., 
452 Second Street. 

£ / %■ e e 3 





J 


V' 




Re-entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by 
J. W. BURKE & CO., 

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States 
for the Southern District of Georgia. 




"T^w 3lJec, /s E' 


PREFACE. 


By request, the Author, a few years ago, prepared a 
Manual for the use of a deliberative body of which he 
was the presiding officer. This was received by the 
public with favor, and passed through several editions. 
It was embarrassed, however, by the fact that it bore 
upon its face the evidence of its local origin and appli¬ 
cation. By the advice and request of distinguished pre¬ 
siding officers of legislative and ’ ecclesiastical bodies, 
who were kind enough to commend it, the author has 
removed from it the traces of such local origin, and 
adapted it to universal use. 

In its original publication, it was offered to supply a 
felt want. No other manual, so far as known, develops 
the important fact that there is an English General Par¬ 
liamentary Code, and an American also, similar in the 
main, but differing in some important particulars. No 
student of the science can fail to be embarrassed who 
does not prosecute his inquiries in the light of this 
discrimination. Besides, as a science, it has the right to 
be presented in systematic form, with a development of 
the great principles on which its parts are based. A 
mere list of rules, without a statement of their reasons, 
and of their mutual connection in a system, would be of 
little value to one trying to qualify himself to be an 



iv 


PREFACE. 


efficient parliamentarian. The attempt is made here to 
present the subject systematically as a science. 

The distinction of questions into debatable and non- 
debatable is not arbitrary, but based upon principle; 
and it is important that the cases should be discrim¬ 
inated, and the reasons given which govern them sev¬ 
erally. This the author has done. In the discussion of 
every form of question, he takes care to state when de¬ 
bate is not in order, and to give the reason for it, if 
neoessary. 

This manual will, of course, be found to differ from 
the special rules of legislative bodies. It is based upon 
General Parliamentary Law, and is an attempt to develop 
the American form of it; while legislative rule is an in¬ 
tentional departure from the General Code. The author 
hopes, however, that it will be found useful to members 
of legislative bodies; indeed, distinguished legislative 
presiding officers have been kind enough to say to him 
that they used his former publication as their text-book. 

The hope is indulged that this manual will be found 
adapted to deliberative bodies of all kinds; and that in¬ 
telligent presiding officers, even though they have not 
had the advantage of legislative training, will find in it 
hints and instructions which will enable them, with diff- 
nity and efficiency, to perform the duties of their office. 

P. II. M. 

University of Georgia, Feb . 9 , 1876. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


nai 

CHAPTER I. DELIBERATIVE BODIES . . 7 

Sect. I. Different kinds of ... 7 

Sect. II. Of the Officers. 9 

Sect. III. Organization. 9 

Sect. IV. Credentials of the Members ... 12 

Sect. V. Of a Quorum. 14 

Sect. VI. Of the Rules by which they are governed 17 

Sect. VII. Manner of Transacting Business . . 18 


CHAPTER II. GENERAL PARLIAMENTARV LAW . 18 

CHAPTER III. OF THE OFFICERS ... 21 

Sect. I. The Presiding Officer; iiis Qualtfica 


tions, &c.. ... 21 

Sect. II. The Recording Officers .... 25 

CHAPTER IV. MANNER OF PROCEEDING . . 26 

Sect. I. -Of Obtaining the Floor .... 27 

Sect. II. On Motions.29 

Sect. III. Of Questions, &c. 31 

CHAPTER V. OF THE VARIOUS CHANGES MEAS¬ 
URES MAY UNDERGO, &c.33 

CHAPTER VI. SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS . . 38 

Sect. I. Motions to Postpone . • . . . .36 

1. To Lie on the Table .... 37 

2. Postpone to a Time Definite . . 38 





VI 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


PAH’S 

Sect. II. Of Motions to Suppress .... 39 

Previous Question .... 40 

Indefinite Postponement . . .45 

Sect. III. Of Commitment.46 

Sect. IV. Of Amendment. 47 

Division of a Question .... 54 

Filling Blanks ..... 66 

Sect. V. Of Reconsideration.67 

CHAPTER VII.VINOIDENTAL QUESTIONS . . 69 

Sect. I. Questions of Order.69 

Sect. II. Reading of Papers. 61 

Sect. III. Withdrawal of a Motion ... 62 

Sect. IV. Suspension of a Rule .... 62 

CHAPTER VIII. PRIVILEGED QUESTIONS . . 63 

Sect. I. Adjournment.63 

Sect. II. Motions Relating to Privilege, &c. . 64 

Sect. III. Orders of the Day.66 


CHAPTER IX. RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF MEMBERS 66 
CHAPTER X. ON DEBATE.68 


CHAPTER XI. ON COMMITTEES . 
Sect. I. Manner of Appointment 
Sect. II. Manner of Proceeding 
Sect. III. Their Report . 

Sect. IV. Committee of the Whole 


73 

74 

76 

77 
79 


APPENDIX. OF THE YEAS AND NAYS ... 82 


PROTESTS.84 


INDEX 


85 






A MANUAL 


OP 

PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE. 


CHAPTER I. 

DELIBERATIVE BODIES. 

1. A Deliberative Body is an organized assembly of 
persons convened to consider and act upon questions 
that may be legitimately presented to them according 
to the principles and forms sanctioned by immemorial 
usage. In all true deliberative bodies, the members 
are on an equality, and the officers are but the instru 
ments and agents of the assembly. 

SECT. I. — DIFFERENT KINDS OF DELIBERATIVE 
BODIES. 

2. Some deliberative bodies are permanently estab. 
lished, and others are occasional. 

3. Permanently established bodies are such as are 
required by constitutional provision to meet at stated 
times, with no provision for their final dissolution. 
These are subdivided into two classes. 

I. In the first class are found those bodies whose 
members have no constituencies, but maintain the re¬ 
lation at will, or for life ; or such elective bodies as 
always have a sufficient number holding position to 
aualifv them for the transaction of business. Of thfc 

(7) 



8 


DELIBERATIVE BODIES. 


former, are local churches in their business capacity, 
and the House of Peers in England, whose members 
hold the relation in the main by hereditary right; of 
the latter is the Senate of the United States, where the 
expiration of terms is so arranged as always to leave at 
least two-thirds of the members in position. These 
may be called, par eminence , permanent bodies. 

II. Of the second class are such bodies as in form 
continue perpetually, but whose members retire from 
position either all together or in such numbers as to 
leave those who hold over so reduced as not to form a 
quorum. To this class belong Legislative assemblies, 
Boards of Managers, and religious constituent organiza¬ 
tions. 

# 4. Occasional deliberative bodies are such convoca¬ 
tions as are called together for temporary purposes, 
which transact once for all the business for which they 
assemble, and then dissolve. Of these bodies also there 
are two classes : 

I. The first class of occasional deliberative bodies 
are those whose members represent constituencies — to 
whom evidences of appointment are necessary to en¬ 
title them to a seat. Under this head are constitutional 
State conventions, Political conventions,—County, State 
or National,—councils, or “Committees of Help,” ap¬ 
pointed at the instance of a church to aid it in a case 
of discipline, &c., &c. 

II. The second class of occasional deliberative bodies 
are those whose. members have no constituencies, and 
need no credentials, but who are present at the instance 
of a legitimate public call in which they consider 
themselves embraced. Such are all meetings of citi¬ 
zens called for any special purpose. 

5. There are certain permanently established bodies 
that are only quasi deliberative. Such are some eccle¬ 
siastical assemblies presided over by those who assert 
the prerogative to decline to put to the question any 
motion that they do not approve. These are not, in 
strictness, deliberative bodies. 


OFFICERS.—ORGANIZATION. 


9 


SECT. II.—OF THE OFFICERS. 

6. Every deliberative body needs essentially a pre¬ 
siding and a recording officer. The former is denom¬ 
inated, sometimes, President; sometimes, Chairman; 
sometimes, Speaker; and sometimes, Moderator. The 
latter is called Secretary, or Clerk. The term, Chair¬ 
man ,—originating in the fact that in Parliament the pre¬ 
siding officer alone is furnished with a chair—is the most 
generic of all. Thus, it is said of every presiding officer 
that he “ takes the chair; ” and, by a common figure of 
speech, he himself is spoken of as The Chair. The term 
Speaker, derived from a function in early times of the 
chief officer of the commons, is applicable only to legis¬ 
lative bodies. In this country, the popular branch of 
Congress, and all the lower, and a few upper, houses of 
State Legislatures, use it. All the other State Senates, 
and the Senate of the U. S., employ the term President. 
The chairman of a town-meeting in Massachusetts is 
called Moderator. With this exception, the term is 
limited to religious bodies. The Presbyterians and Bap¬ 
tists use it—the former, with their higher judicatories: 
the latter, with their church conferences and District As¬ 
sociations; the chief officer of their Convention they 
call President. The presiding Bishop of the Protestant 
Episcopal Convention is addressed as President: the 
same dignitary in the chair of the Methodist Conference 
is addressed by his title, Bishop; though he is called 
also President of the Conference. 


SECT. m.—ORGANIZATION. 

7. An assembly is organized wdien it is provided with 
suitable officers as organs or instruments of action. 

8. Permanently established bodies, (See par. 3,) by 
constitutional provision or usage are provided with 


10 


DELIBERATIVE BODIES. 


temporary officers who call them to order and serve aa 
instruments by which the permanent organization is 
effected. In some, as legislative bodies, these officers 
are the clerks and the sergeants-at-arms of the preced¬ 
ing house. The clerk of the House of Commons in 
England is appointed by the Crown, and holds office for 
life. In the lower branch of Congress, and in many 
State Legislatures, by usage ^r by law, he continues in 
office until his successor is appointed. In the House of 
Deputies in France, under the old constitution, the 
oldest member took the chair as president, and the five 
youngest members acted as clerks. By constitution 
or usage, the elective officers of constituent religious 
bodies hold office until their successors are appointed. 
The officers of a preceding*meeting therefore constitute 
the temporary instrumentalities by which a permanent 
organization may be effected in a subsequent assem¬ 
bly. 

9. In those legislative bodies not provided by law 
with a temporary president, the clerk, when the time 
arrives, takes his place at the table — not in the pre¬ 
siding officer’s chair — and entertains motions and puts 
questions germain to the organization. 

10. Churches, whose government is in the hands of 
the membership, are permanently organized bodies, the 
pastor being ex officio the presiding officer, and the mem¬ 
ber once elected clerk holding office until, by death or 
otherwise, a vacancy occurs. 

11. As has been said, it is the province of the officers 
of the preceding meeting to organize the constitu¬ 
ent religious body. They should take their places 
promptly, therefore, in the chair and at the table when 
the hour for the organization arrives. In the discharge 
of this duty, the presiding officer should entertain no 
motion excepting such as is strictly germain to the or¬ 
ganization ; for a deliberative body can properly enter 
upon no other business until it is organized. SI \ld 
the presiding officer of the last meeting be absent, Jid 
there be no vice-president in attendance, it is the 


ORGANIZATION. 


II 


province of the chief clerk or secretary to call the 
meeting to order and to receive motions and put Ques¬ 
tions. Should all the officers of the last meeting be 
absent, then the mode of (Organization will be as pointed 
out in the next paragraph. 

12. Occasional assemblies (see par. 4) are usually 
organized in the following manner. When the ap¬ 
pointed time has arrived, and the members are present, 
one of their number rises and requests the meeting to 
come to order. Upon this, all will be seated and will 
yield respectful attention. He then, remarking on the 
necessity of proceeding to the organization, requests 
that some one be nominated as a suitable presiding 
officer. Some name or names having been proposed, 
he announces that such a person (naming the one first 
nominated) is proposed as the presiding officer of the 
meeting, and puts the question on this proposition. 
Should it be decided in the negative, he puts the ques¬ 
tion on other names mentioned in succession, until one 
obtains a majority of the votes. It would be legiti¬ 
mate for him, instead of asking for a name, to nominate 
one himself, and, if seconded, to put the question on 
his own nomination. The person thus elected takes 
the chair, and proceeds to complete the organization by 
soliciting nominations for secretary and other necessary, 
officers. 

13. The above is all that is usually necessary in the 
organization of an occasional or temporary assembly. 
If, however, it is desirable to have a greater number 
of officers, or to select them with more care, it is cus¬ 
tomary to consider the organization thus effected, as 
temporary and then refer to a committee the subject 
of the permanent organization, and the selection of 
suitable persons to fill the offices. Should the report 
of the committee, when presented, be adopted by tno 
assembly, the temporary officers give way* and those 
permanently appointed assume the places to which 
they have been called. Should a constituent relig- 
V*as body, in case of the absence of the officers of 


12 


DELIBERATIVE BODIES. 


the last meeting, organize temporarily as pointed out 
in par. 12, those officers thus temporarily appointed 
should consider themselves as possessing the functions 
and occupying the places of the officers of the pre¬ 
ceding meeting had they been present, and proceed to 
effect the permanent organization in the mannel 
pointed out by constitution or usage. 

SECT. IV. — CREDENTIALS OF THE MEMBERS. 

14. In all deliberative bodies the members to which 
claim their seats by virtue of appointment, by a re¬ 
cognized constituency, or on the ground of conformity 
to any other constitutional requirement, it is necessary, 
before proceeding to business, to ascertain the names 
of the members, and to inquire into their credentials. 
This is necessary not only that all may be excluded 
who have no right to participate in the proceedings, 
but that a list may be made out for the use of the as¬ 
sembly and its officers.' 

15. In the case of legislative bodies and constitu¬ 
tional conventions, a preliminary inquiry is made, and 
the question of membership decided, for the time, by 
competent authority before the assembly meets. Ac¬ 
cording to law, the election returns are sent to the 
office of the Governor of the State, where they are 
counted, and a list of the members made out. A cer¬ 
tificate of election is furnished by the Governor to 
each one declared elected, and a complete list, through 
official channels, is placed in the hands of the clerk, 
which he reads out at the beginning of the proceedings. 
Only those then, and all those, “ duly returned,” and 
thus in possession of prima facie evidence of election, 
are entitled to participate in the permanent organiza¬ 
tion. Legislative bodies then, with safety, defer all 
inquiry themselves into the credentials of their mem¬ 
bers, and all consideration and adjudication of con¬ 
flicting claims, until after their permanent organization. 

16. But in the case of occasional constituent assem 


CREDENTIALS OP THE MEMBERS. IS 

blies (see par. 4, 1) — excepting those provided for by 
legislative enactment, as, e.g., State constitutional con¬ 
ventions—the proper time for inquiry into the creden¬ 
tials of membership is immediately after the temporary 
organization. The assembly cannot enter into the in¬ 
quiry until it has some kind of organization ; and it is 
not prepared to proceed to the permanent organization 
until it has definitely ascertained and announced the 
names of all who are authorized to take part in such 
organization. There is nothing done by a deliberative 
body more important and decisive in results than the 
election of officers ; and, if the credentials of members 
need not be looked into before that, it is hard to see 
why it is imperatively necessary afterwards. 

17. The rule laid down above applies to religious con¬ 
stituent assemblies. The previous meetings furnish 
them officers for the temporary organizations; and they 
are in consequence in a condition to examine into the 
credentials of their members, before they proceed to the 
election of permanent officers. These assemblies in the 
main proceed on this principle. In some of them, 
though, it is customary for those who claim to be mem¬ 
bers to present, on invitation, their names to the secre¬ 
taries. These names, without question, are officially 
announced on the mere authority of the claimants. 
This is in violation of principle, and dangerous. True, 
the assembly acquires a list of names, which can be 
officially read out; and impostors run some slight risk 
of exposure; but the house is not as competent to in¬ 
vestigate the case as a small committee; and it is of 
necessity compelled to proceed on the principle of blind 
confidence. Some of these bodies have a pecuniary 
basis; and men claim membership because they have 
paid specified sums. Surely, one thus claiming should 
present the proof before it is officially announced that 
he is a member. Besides, in such bodies, all com¬ 
mittees on credentials subsequently appointed, are mis¬ 
nomers; and if their report be presented towards the 
close of the session, it will evince that their function is 


14 


DELIBERATIVE BODIES. 


not to discover who of right may take part in the pro* 
ceedings, hut to secure an accurate list for publication in 
the minutes* 

18. The most convenient mode of inquiring into 
qualifications of membership is by the appointment of 
a committee on credentials. The same committee may 
be empowered to inquire into and report upon rival 
claims, should any such be v presented. 

19. In case the right of any one to a seat should he 
questioned, it is customary to hear him in defence of 
h?s right. After this, should he be permitted to re¬ 
main by vote of the assembly, he should participate 
no further in the proceedings on his case, and least of 
all should he vote. It is a violation of all principle 
for one to.Vote on a question personal to himself 

SECT. V. —OF A QUORUM.* 

20. All deliberative bodies are composed of individ¬ 
uals, and some members may be absent from the ses¬ 
sion. It becomes necessary, therefore, to decide in 
advance what number must be present to render pro¬ 
ceedings valid. In some, as in the English Parliament, 
a few of the legislative bodies of this country, Boards 
of Managers, &c., the quorum is a definite nymber 
known beforehand. For instance, in the House of 
Commons, consisting of more than six hundred mem¬ 
bers, forty constitute a quorum; in the-House of Lords, 
three. In Congress, and generally in the State Legis¬ 
latures, it is an aliquot part of the whole. As a gen¬ 
eral thing, a majority of the whole constitutes the 
quorum in this country. 

* “ The term quorum (literally, of whom ) is qne of the words used 
in England in the Latin form of the commission to justices of the 
peace. The part of the document wherein the word occurs runs thus : 
‘We have assigned you, and every two or more of you, quorum 
aliquem vestrum , A, B, C, D, Ac., un*m esse volumus, — i. e., of whom 
we will that any one of you, A, B, or C, Ac., shall be one.' This made 
it necessary that certain individuals, who, in the language of the 
commission, were said to be of the quorum, should be present during 
the transaction of business.” — Blackstone’s Commentariet, I. 352. 


OF A QUORUM. 


1ft 


21. In those representative bodies the number of 
whose constituencies has been determined by constitu : 
tional provision or by law—as, e. g., legislative assem¬ 
blies—the quorum consists (if not otherwise provided) 
of the majority; not of those who are in attendance, 
but of the number who ought to have been elected and 
returned from the different election districts recognized 
by law. But in those that have no definite number of 
constituencies,—as, e. g those constituted on a pecuni¬ 
ary basis,—the quorum, if any at all, must consist of the 
majority of those who are present and answer to the 
roll-call. 

22. Local churches, having independence and sover¬ 
eignty,—as, e. g ., Congregational and Baptist, constitute 
deliberative bodies. These, as a general rule, require the 
attendance of their members, but, so far as known, the 
question of the quorum is but seldom, if ever, raised. 
Those, who are present at the time and place appointed 
by regular authority for the meeting, constitute the 
church in session, and are competent to transact business. 
Like the House of Peers in England, which they resemble 
also in the fact that they are not representative bodies, 
they act on the principle that but a few are absolutely 
necessary for the transaction of business. But it is always 
dangerous to decide questions eliciting division of senti¬ 
ment, with the presence of less than a majority of the 
church. In such bodies as possess ecclesiastical power, 
as, e. g ., Presbyterian Higher Judicatories and Protestant 
Episcopal Conventions, stress is of necessity laid upon the 
quorum. With Episcopalians, the quorum is an aliquot 
part of the whole : with Presbyterians, a definite number. 
In Methodist Conferences, so far as known, the question 
of the quorum is never raised. 

23. Baptist Associations have, by constitutional 
provision, a definite number that may be members; 
since they are composed of messengers sent by churches 
known to be in the union. But as the number of which 
they are to be composed depends in part upon the 
variable membership in the churches, it can never be 


16 


DELIBERATIVE BODIES. 


l*iOwn, in advance, of what number the body mu& 
consist. Besides, these associations are not properly 
representative bodies; for churches are not able to 
delegate their authority. They are mere societies, and 
have no ecclesiastical jurisdiction or powers. Comity 
would require that churches in their union should 
appoint messengers to these bodies; but they are not 
required to do sb, and may, at times, omit it, if so dis¬ 
posed. There is, consequently, no definite number of 
which these bodies must be composed. If, then, in the 
absence of any provision on the subject, a District 
Association has any quorum, it must consist of the 
majority of those in attendance. 

24. —Such religious Conventions, Societies, and 
Unions as are constituted in whole or in part on a 
pecuniary basis, in the matter of the quorum, belong 
to the class of bodies whose numbers cannot be antici¬ 
pated. Their quorum, then, in the nature of things, 
consists not of the greater part of a number designated 
in advance, nor even of those appointed, but only of a 
majority of those actually in attendance. The func¬ 
tions of these bodies, and the principles on which they 
are organized, rarely, if ever, furnish the occasion for 
raising the question of the quorum. 

25. In bodies of definite numbers, and therefore 
whose quorum is known in advance, especially in legis¬ 
lative assemblies, no business can be regularly entered 
upon until a quorum is present; nor can the business 
be proceeded with when the members present are re¬ 
duced below that number. The presiding officer there¬ 
fore should not take the chair until the proper number 
is ascertained to be present, and should suspend pro¬ 
ceedings immediately when notice is taken that the 
number present has fallen below a quorum. If, on a 
count, this be found to be a fact, the assembly should 
be immediately adjourned. 

26. A smaller number than a quorum may adjourn 
from day to day; and some legislative bodies have by 
law given a smaller number than a quorum the powef 
to compel the attendance of absent members. 


GENERAL RULES. 


17 


SECT. VI. — OF THE RULES BY WHICH THEY ARE 
GOVERNED. 

27. Every deliberative body must be necessarily 
placed under some rule. If, therefore, it has none of 
its own, it is of necessity placed under those which have 
been established by immemorial usage, and which have 
become a kind of common law on the subject. It can, 
however, after its organization, adopt special rules for 
its own government, modifying or even changing the 
common law. But, in cases not provided for by these 
special rules, it must be governed by the general code. 

28. General parliamentary law is derived from the 
practice of the British Parliament, modified somewhat 
by congressional and legislative bodies in this country, 
partly, because of the difference of our institutions, and, 
partly, because experience has suggested improvements 
on the English method. (For the difference in the 
code in England and in America, see Chap. II.) 

29. Congress and the State legislatures have special 
rules modifying the parliamentary law of this country; 
but they are all alike essentially governed by the com¬ 
mon code. In those respects in which these bodies 
differ from one another on account of special rules, they 
are not models to be imitated by such assemblies as 
have not as yet formally adopted any rules. Care 
should be taken, therefore, not to apply to such a body 
the special rules of a State legislature, merely because 
it happens to meet within the bounds of a State; nor 
those of Congress merely because it happens to meet in 
the District of Columbia. General parliamentary law 
is the only code possessing supremacy over an assembly 
having no rules of its own. What general parliamen¬ 
tary law is will be shown hereafter in detail. 

30. Every assembly can adopt rules for its own 
government; but none in this country can ordain rules 
for its successor. The authority of the rules expires 
with the session; and if they are operative in a succeed¬ 
ing body it is by virtue of a special vote adopting them, 

2* B 


18 


GENERAL PARLIAMENTARY LAW. 


SECT. VII. — OF THE MANNER OF TRANSACTING 
BUSINESS. 

31. An assembly expresses its opinion, judgment, or 
will by orders or resolutions. “ When it commands, it is 
by an order. But facts, principles, its own opinions 
and purposes are expressed in the form of resolutions.” 
A vote is the method by which results are attained in 
any case. Whatever form, however, the question may 
assume, the mode of proceeding is always the same. 

32. The assembly being organized, it is competent 
for any member to move an order or resolution. This 
being seconded and stated from the chair, becomes in 
possession of the assembly, to be adopted, modified, 
postponed, rejected, or suppressed, according to its 
pleasure. 

33. Questions are always decided by a majority of 
the votes w 7 hen there is no rule to the contrary. Some¬ 
times, however, by special rule, a number greater than 
a majority is required, and at other times a number 
less will suffice. Some propositions, to be carried, de¬ 
mand a unanimous vote. Examples of these various 
kinds will arise as we proceed. In the case of a tie 
vote, in most assemblies, a casting vote is given by the 
presiding officer. But he may decline to vote; in that 
event the proposition fails, on the principle that every 
measure, to be carried, requires the vote of a majority. 


CHAPTER II. 

GENERAL PARLIAMENTARY LAW. 

34. General parliamentary law is the code by which 
all deliberative bodies are governed until they estab¬ 
lish a code of their own. The basis of this is found in 



GENERAL PARLIAMENTARY LAW. 


n 


the practice of the British Parliament. Commencing in 
early times with a few first principles, a system has 
gradually grown up, tested by experience, and sanc¬ 
tioned by long usage. Forms of question were in¬ 
vented, and modes of proceeding adopted, according 
as the operations of parliament became more compli¬ 
cated, until there exists a list adequate to all the wants 
of a deliberative body to enable it to dispose satisfac¬ 
torily of all propositions submitted to it. 

35. But a distinction is to be made between parlia¬ 
mentary law and the rules of proceeding in the English 
Parliament. Every legislative body finds it necessary 
to adopt special rules adapted to its genius and its cir¬ 
cumstances. Such rules the English Parliament also 
has adopted in the form of “ orders ” — standing, ses¬ 
sional, and occasional. While then an occasional 
assembly, meeting in Great Britain, would be under 
parliamentary law, it need not be subject to the rules 
and orders of the British Parliament. 

36. But specifically, what is meant by general par¬ 
liamentary law ? There are certain (1) general principles, 
(2) forms of proceeding , and (3) forms of question, of uni¬ 
versal application, by which all assemblies are, in some 
degree, essentially controlled. These constitute the gen¬ 
eral parliamentary code. (1) The general principles are 
such as these: The members of every assembly are od 
terms of equality; an assembly must be organized by the 
appointment of a presiding and a recording officer; the 
officers are the servants and the instruments of the assem¬ 
bly ; questions are decided by a concurring vote of the 
majority ; members are not to violate decorum, etc., etc. 
(2) Th e forms of proceeding are such as point out the 
manner in which subjects are to be introduced, and the 
forms propositions are to assume, — i. e., whether they 
are to be in the shape of bills, or orders, or resolutions, 
or simple motions; the way in which a member may 
exert his influence for or against a proposition,—as by 
debate, and by moving questions to modify, suppr%a 
or defeat it; the manner in which the question is to ba 


20 GENERAL PARLIAMENTARY LAW. 

put to the assembly, — i. e., by the presiding officer in 
a particular way, etc., etc. (3) Forms of question, of 
universal application, are such as are adapted to per¬ 
fect, to defer and to suppress propositions, — such as 
motions to amend, to postpone, to prequestion, etc. All 
such forms of question as are provided in general par¬ 
liamentary law are applicable to all assemblies, ac¬ 
cording as circumstances may call for their use; and 
none can be moved excepting such as are contai aed in 
the general code. For instance, there is no such form 
of question in the list as the motion to “ substitute.” 
Consequently, a motion in this form must be construed 
into a motion to “ amend,” by striking out all after 
the enacting clause, or after the word Resolved , and 
inserting; and this motion is subject to all the rules 
operative in the case of any other motion to amend. 
It is chiefly in regard to the regulation of these forms 
of question by rule that deliberative bodies differ from 
each other. 

37. It will be seen, on investigation, that there has 
grown up in this country a system of general parlia¬ 
mentary law differing in important particulars from 
the English code. To specify some points: In Eng¬ 
land, the motion to amend is of the same grade with 
the motions to postpone, and for the previous question; 
and if first moved, cannot be suppressed by them ; —in 
this country, no assembly hesitates to entertain a mo¬ 
tion to postpone or for the previous question while an 
amendment i~ pending. Again, in England, one par¬ 
liament can bind its successor by what it calls standing 
orders ; in this country, no assembly can establish rules 
for its successor, but, by universal usage, each assembly 
adopts for itself its own rules. The motion to recon¬ 
sider is in universal vogue in this country, but is not 
known in England. The call for the yeas and nays 
also, so common in American legislative bodies, is un¬ 
known in the English parliament; and — not to name 
any more—the previous question, and the intention 
with which it is mowed, are different in the two coun* 


THE PRESIDING OFFICER. SI 

tries. In England it is moved by those who desire te 
get a decision in the negative; in this country, by those 
who wish it decided in the affirmative. 

38. It will be seen then, that there is an English 
code and an American code, similar in the main, but 
differing in some important particulars. This manual 
is based upon the American code; and it is an attempt 
to develop in detail its principles. 


CHAPTER III. 

OF THE OFFICERS. 

39. As a general thing, deliberative bodies elect 
their own officers. The Senate of the United States, 
and the House of Peers in England, are exceptions. 
In the former, the Vice-President of the Republic, and 
in the latter, the Lord Chancellor, by virtue of their 
offices, are the presidents respectively. The clerk to 
the House of Commons, also, is not elected by the 
body, but appointed by the Crown. But where the 
officers are appointed by the suffrages of the assembly, 
a majority vote is necessary to their election. This is 
based upon the fact that the body can at any time 
turn the incumbents out of office; and, if they are 
elected by a mere plurality, they may not be able to hold 
office for any length of time. Besides, to be influential, 
they must have the confidence of those whom they 
serve, which w T ould not be the case if less than one-half 
of the assembly desired them for the positions. 

SECT. I.-THE PRESIDING OFFICER ; HIS QUALIFICA¬ 

TIONS ; THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH HE SHOULD 
PROCEED; AND HI3 duties. 

40. No one should accept of the position of presiding 
officer unless he possesses the mental characteristics, 



22 


OP THE OFFICERS. 


aiid the knowledge of parliamentary science, which 
will qualify him for the efficient discharge of the duties 
of the office. Any one without these qualifications, 
jeopards the dignity of the body and his own reputa 
tion, by acceptance of office. 

41. the dignity of a deliberative body depends mors 
upon its presiding officer than upon all else besides. It 
may be laid down as a rule admitting of no exceptions, 
that, with an incompetent presiding officer, a body will 
be disorderly in proportion to its intelligence. With 
such bodies, questions will be sure to become compli¬ 
cated ; and the members detecting the mistakes of the 
chair, and perceiving the disastrous influence of his 
decisions upon the measures they support, will be cer¬ 
tain to make the attempt to correct him. All contested 
points of order before a presiding officer who does not 
know what order is, will be sure to produce confusion 
worse confounded. 

42. The mental characteristics necessary to a good 
presiding officer are, quickness of apprehension, powers 
of discrimination, decision and firmness, coolness and 
self-possession, disinterestedness, reverence for authority, 
and a familiarity with the principles of parliamentary 
science, as well as the decisions which have been made 
under it. He who attempts to conduct proceedings bv 
routine and by rote, and is not able to refer each case 
that arises promptly to its appropriate principle, will be 
cenain to be subjected to mortification and disgrace. 

43. He should thoroughly recognize the principle, 
and unvaryingly act upon it, that all the members of 
the body over which he presides are of equal grade, and 
have equal rights. This does not mean that he is to 
consider them as possessing equal capacity, but only 
an equality of rights. When work is to be done, and 
it is his province to designate individuals to perform 
it, he will, of course, be influenced by the question of 
capacity and qualification; but in admitting claims 
upon the floor, he should make no distinction among 
the members. In constituting committees, he should 


THE PRESIDING OFFICER. 


23 


take care to distribute appointments to as great an 
extent among the members as possible consistently 
with efficiency. Nothing more than this tends to give 
him a hold upon the confidence of the body: first, 
because he thus makes it appear that he is not governed 
by favoritism; and, second, because there is a delicate 
compliment, which will be felt, conferred upon all thus 
appointed. Nothing so certainly, and so deservedly, 
weakens the influence of a presiding officer as the 
limiting his appointments to favorites or to cliques. 
That officer is the most successful who, after preserving 
the rules and maintaining the dignity of the body, so 
manages as to enable the assembly to transact its 
business satisfactorily in the way it desires; and. to 
afford to each member the opportunity to impress him¬ 
self upon the assembly in the way suited to his ability, 
his judgment, and his taste. For matters of taste and 
judgment do not come within the purview of the pres¬ 
ident. His jurisdiction is limited to questions of order; 
and if it is in accordance with the judgment and . taste 
of individual members even to make themselves ridicu¬ 
lous,—so that they do so under the forms, of order,— 
he is not responsible, and has no right to interfere. 

44. Every presiding officer should have such respect 
for the body over which he has the honor to preside as 
to have confidence that it is able to transact its own 
business without assistance from him in any other way 
than by the preservation of ord&r. It is an outrage for 
hi m to intimate from the chair approbation or disap¬ 
probation of any measure under consideration, other 
than those affecting order. No one should be able to 
infer from anything said or done what are the opinions 
of the chair in regard to any pending measure. Just 
so soon as he can be classed as favoring one side or the 
other, he ceases to be a disinterested umpire, and be¬ 
comes suspected as a partisan. In such a case, hia 
influence is immediately destroyed, and ought to be. 
It is true that, in theory, he can leave the chair and 
take the floor, and, like any other member, speak in 


94 


OP THE OFFICERS. 


favor of or against a pending measure; 1 nt none but 
extreme cases would justify him in doing so. And it 
would be better for him and for the assembly w T ere he 
to pertinaciously act upon the resolution never, what¬ 
ever may be the temptation, to leave the chair in order 
to occupy the floor. This, of course, is limited to gen • 
eral measures; on questions of order he may speak, 
and is often in duty bound to do so. 

45. These principles hold good in the case of a pastor 
who acts as moderator of a church. He is to make a 
wide distinction between the pulpit and the chair. In 
the former, he may discuss at pleasure all subjects 
which relate directly or indirectly to the gospel; and 
may communicate to the church and congregation any 
instruction he may deem profitable ; but in the latter, 
he is but the presiding officer of a deliberative body 
that is, or ought to be, able to transact its own busi¬ 
ness. It must be admitted though, and claimed, that 
on some subjects, he may have to act not only in the 
capacity of Moderator, but in that of Pastor also. On 
questions, if any, that are to be decided by the concur¬ 
rent voice of church and pastor, the latter of course has 
a right to express an opinion, and to exert an influence. 
Such cases, though, are rare, and well defined. In 
all other questions, the pastor is simply the presid¬ 
ing officer; and if he dictates to the church on 
any matter out of the domains of order, he is guilty 
of usurpation. Such a course will certainly weaken 
his influence; and, if persisted in, ultimately destroy 

46. It is the duty of the presiding officer: to take 
the chair promptly at the appointed time and call the 
assembly to order; to announce the business in the 
order in which it is to be acted on; to entertain all 
propositions made in order, and submit them to the 
assembly; to put to the vote all questions which prop¬ 
erly arise ; to enforce order and decorum in debate; 
to decide promptly all questions of order; to give the 
floor to the one entitled to it, when two or more ris$ 


OF THE RECORDING OFFICER, 


25 


and claim it about the same time; to give the assembly, 
when referred to, information on points of order; to 
receive and announce to the assembly all communica¬ 
tions properly addressed to it; and, in general, to see 
that all business is brought in and conducted in proper 
order. 


SECT. II. — OF THE RECORDING OFFICER. 

47. The Secretary requires, as the qualifications of 
his office, quickness of apprehension, diligence, and the 
ability to express his ideas readily, intelligibly, and 
accurately, in writing. 

48. It is his duty to make true records of all the 
proceedings of the assembly. This relates only to 
measures voted upon. Matters merely proposed, on 
which no final action has been taken, he is not to re¬ 
cord. “ He is to enter what is done and past, but not 
what is said or moved. This is the rule in legislative 
assemblies. In others, though the spirit of the rules 
ought to be observed, it is generally expected of the 
secretary that his record shall be both a journal and, 
in some sort, a report of the proceedings.” 

49. It is the duty of the secretary to read all papers 
ordered by the assembly to be read; to call the roll 
whenever inquiry is to be made in regard to the pres¬ 
ence of the members, and whenever a question is de¬ 
cided by the yeas and nays; to preserve on file all 
documents and papers belonging to the assembly, and 
on no account to suffer them to pass out of h s hands ; 
to furnish the chairman of every committee with a 
list of all the names appointed on it, with a statement 
of the subject referred to it; and to authenticate with 
his signature (sometimes in conjunction with the presi¬ 
dent) all the acts, orders, and proceedings of the as¬ 
sembly. The secretary, in reading and in calling the 
roll, invariably stands. 

50. Where two or more secretaries are appointed, 
the first-named acts as chief officer. The recording 
officer, when a member of the assembly, has all the 

a 


MANNER OP PROCEEDING. 


fights and privileges of other members. He can make 
motions, engage in debate, and in all other respects 
take part in the proceedings as other members. 


CHAPTER IV. 

MANNER OF PROCEEDING 

51. The topics which engage the attention of a de¬ 
liberative body are brought to its notice either by 
communications from authorized external sources, or 
from the suggestions of its own members. 

52. The principal forms or instruments used by an 
assembly for disposing of topics, are motions, resolu¬ 
tions, and orders. 

53. A motion is a proposition made by one member 
and seconded by another to do something, to order 
something, or to express its opinion in regard to some¬ 
thing. When adopted, it becomes the order or resolu¬ 
tion of the assembly. Without a motion, nothing can 
be set in operation, and by motions everything is made 
to progress to the end. 

54. “ When the house commands, it is by an ' order/ 
But facts, principles, their own opinions and purposes, 
are expressed in the form of resolutions.” Jeffer¬ 
son. When an assembly directs anything to be done 
by its officers or members, it expresses itself in the 
form of an order; but when it indicates its determina¬ 
tion to do anything itself, it expresses itself in the form 
o i & resolution. Thus: it orders such a document to be 
printed, or that a debate be adjourned; it resolves that 
a bill do pass, and resolves itself into a committee of 
the whole. But resolutions of this kind must be dis¬ 
tinguished from resolutions properly so called; and 
“order,” in the sense above, from orders in the sense 
of rules, and from orders of the day. 



OF OBTAINING THE FLOOR. 


21 


55. Whin a meml er wishes to obtain the vote of the 
assembly in reference to any matters of opinion or of 
expediency, he submits his proposition in the form of 
a resolution, etc., and moves its adoption. 

SECT. I.—OF OBTAINING THE FLOOR. 

56. A member wishing to gain the attention of th 
assembly to anything he desires to present, must first, 
as it is technically termed, obtain the floor. This he 
does by rising and addressing the presiding officer by 
his title, as, “ Mr. (or Bro.) President.” If he secures 
the recognition of the chair, he is said to have obtained 
the floor. 

57. If two or more rise about the same time, he is 
entitled to the floor who was the first up, and the first 
to address the chair. But it is not always easy for the 
presiding officer to decide with accuracy, as it may not 
be in his power to see all parts of the room at the same 
time. Nothing is left then but for him to give the 
floor to the one who appeared to him to be the first to 
rise. The decision of the chair is usually acquiesced 
in when that officer has a reputation for impartiality. 
But the rule in the case is, that the first up is entitled 
to the floor; and if, through inadvertency or wilfully, 
any one is deprived of his right, it is competent for the 
assembly to interpose and remedy the wrong. In that 
case, the question is to be put to the vote as to who 
rose first. When this is done, the vote is to be taken 
first upon the name of the member recognized by the 
chair. 

58. Members sometimes intimate to the chair in 
advance that they would like/ to have the floor after 
the one occupying it shall yield; and think they are 
treated with neglect if the presiding officer do not 
call out their names, even though they make no legiti¬ 
mate effort tc obtain the floor. This is unreasonable 
and absurd. The chair can call out the name of no 
one excepting in response to an address to himself by 


MANNER OP PROCEEDING. 


28 

one standing on his feet. Besides, these intimations, 
given in advance, either by word or gesture, are them¬ 
selves disorderly, and should always be disregarded by 
the chair. In like manner should one’s claims be dis¬ 
regarded who rises before the one speaking has finished. 
A.11 such conduct is disorderly, and should prejudice 
rather than advance a member’s claims. 

59. When one has once obtained the floor, the gen¬ 
eral rule is that he cannot be deprived of it so long as 
he does not violate order. He may voluntarily yield 
it to another, or give way to a motion to adjourn, or 
waive his right because he detects and respects impa¬ 
tience manifested by the assembly; but he cannot be 
forced to relinquish it. This rule, though, admits of 
exceptions, when the measure on which the member is 
speaking ceases to be in order by the lapse of time, or 
when the time has arrived for an order of the day. 

60. Members sometimes permit others to interrupt 
them, to explain, and otherwise to address the house, 
claiming still that they have the floor. This is liable 
to great abuse; for, in this way, members may usurp 
the prerogatives of the chair, and manage to give their 
party friends the use of the floor to the exclusion of 
all others. Such compacts should not be recognised 
by the chair; and he should rule that the floor given 
up for one purpose of the kind is relinquished for all. 

61. But while it is the duty of the presiding officer 
to protect every one in his right to the floor, he may 
— indeed, is in duty bound to do so—give the floor 
temporarily to any one who interrupts, and addresses 
himself to the chair—at least, long enough to ascer¬ 
tain his object. He may have risen to a point of order, 
or to a question of privilege, which cannot be made 
known unless he is recognized by the chair. When, 
m the one case, the point of order is decided in favor 
of the one addressing the house, or, in the other, the 
question of privilege is disposed of. the one temporarily 
interrupted resumes the floor. When a member rises 
to interrupt, he should always state in advance that he 


ON MOTIONS. 


29 


rises to a question of order or of privilege. And having 
obtained the floor, he is at liberty to use it for no other 
purpose than for that indicated when he claimed it. 

SECT. II. — ON MOTIONS. 

62. Whenever a member wishes to get the sense or 
decision of the body on any proposition, and, for that 
purpose, moves a resolution, he is said to make a motion. 
But legislative bodies distinguish between a resolution 
and a motion. The former contains matter of impor¬ 
tance, and, after being read by the clerk, requires a 
motion to proceed to a second reading: the latter is of 
minor character, and relates to the order of taking up 
business, and such like minor matters, and does not 
require a second reading. It is proper, however, to 
say, “ move a resolution;” for he who offers one for the 
consideration of the assembly, virtually moves its 
adoption; though, in presenting it, he need not use the 
word move or motion. The usual form is, “ Mr. Presi¬ 
dent, I beg leave to offer the following resolution.” 

63. No motion, whatever form it may assume, is t z 
be entertained unless it is seconded. The reason is that 
the time of an assembly is not to be consumed by any 
proposition that may not have more than one advocate. 
This rule has exceptions, when the motion is to carry 
into effect the pre-existing orders or resolutions of the 
assembly. This is not, however, so much a motion as 
a demand that the rules and orders of the house should 
be carried into effect. This, one member has the right 
to do. 

64. All motions must be submitted to writing, on the 
demand of the presiding officer or of any om member. 
It is unusual though, and unnecessary to demand, that 
those should be put in writing which are used for the 
purpose of disposing of other motions and questions; 
as, the motion to lay on the table; to adjourn; for the 
previous question, etc. 

65. No motion is in order which is substantially the 

8 * 


10 


MANNER OF PROCEEDING. 


same as one the assembly has disposed of already, 02 
is holding under advisement,—having laid it on the 
table, or referred it to a committee. The same prin¬ 
ciple holds good when the motion is inconsistent with 
one already adopted. The only way in which the 
mover can reach in order the object he has in view is, 
in the latter case, to move first to reconsider the action 
already taken; and, in the former, to wait until the 
matter is again before the assembly, and then move 
his proposition as an amendment. 

66. A member can make but one motion at a time. 
The contrary has been allowed in Congress, and has 
grown to be a common usage ; as, when a member 
makes a motion, and then moves in the same breath 
that his own motion be laid on the table. This is a 
great abuse ; and the bad example of Congress should 
not be followed by other assemblies. In such a case, 
the presiding officer should entertain the former mo¬ 
tion, and treat the latter as if it had not been made. 

67. A motion made can be withdrawn by the mover 
at any time before a decision or amendment by the 
assembly.* After amendment, — i. e., after a vote on 
an amendment offered to it,—it can be withdrawn 
only by consent of the assembly. The vote of a ma¬ 
jority will suffice to give this consent. On the same 
principles, the mover can modify the phraseology of 
his proposition at any time before a vote is taken on 
it or on an amendment proposed to it. 

68. An assembly can have before it but one thing at 
a time. It is a rule, therefore, that when a motion has 
been made, and stated by the chair, it cannot be dis- 


* This is according to general parliamentary law in this country. 
Borne of our manuals, governed by the English usage, lay it dswn 
that it passes beyond the control of the mover as soon as it is stated 
by the chair; and others, again, that it cannot be withdrawn after 
any one has spoken on it. But there is no satisfactory principle 
upon which this can be based; for, according to their own doctrine, 
any one can renew it again after the assembly has, by rote, permitted 
its withdrawal. And, if this last be true, how unreasonable is the 
statement that leave to withdraw requires universal oonsent. 


OP QUESTIONS. 


31 


placed by any other motion proposing new business, 
But a principal motion may be suspended for the time 
by those that may be termed, in a general sense, priv¬ 
ileged questions, — such as are designed to dispose of 
the principal question ; or arise incidentally out of it; 
or are incidental to the course of business; )r that 
relate to the rights or privileges of the assembly or any 
of its members. When these are decided, the main 
motion revives again, unless by the decision of any of 
them it lias been disposed of. 

SECT. III.—OF QUESTIONS, AND THE MANNER IN 
WIHCn THEY ARE PUT TO THE VOTE. 

69. When a proposition is presented to an assembly, 
as has been said, it is by a motion. When it is stated 
by the chair, it becomes a question; because it is to be 
answered in the affirmative or negative. When the 
question is decided by the assembly, it is by a vote. 

70. The usual method of stating the question is as 
follows: The presiding officer rises, and says : “ It has 
been moved and seconded,” (here he repeats the words 
of the motion). If a resolution has been moved, it is 
handed to the secretary, and by him read; the chair 
prefacing the reading by words to the following effect: 
“The question will be on the motion to adopt the 
resolution now to be read by the secretary.” If he 
prefers it, the presiding officer can read the resolution 
himself. Until the question has been stated by the 
chair, it is not in order to speak on the motion. When 
the assembly is ready for the question, the chair puts 
it to the vote as follows: After repeating, “ The ques¬ 
tion is on the motion to,” Ac.; or, “ on the motion to 
adopt the following resolution,” — (here he reads the 
resolution again, or requires the secretary to do so, and 
adds,) — “As many as are in favor of the motion (or 
of the adoption of the resolution) will say, Aye.” 
When those in the affirmative shall have responded, 
he puts the negative, also : “ Those cf a contrary mind 
will say, No.” 


32 


MANNER OF PROCEEDING. 


71. The question is decided, in the first instance., by 
the voices. If the presiding officer is satisfied, by the 
sound, of the result of the vote, he announces: “ The 
ayes have it;” or, “The noes have it;” or, “It is de¬ 
cided in the affirmative;” or, “It is decided in the 
negative.” If he is not exactly satisfied himself, or 
wishes to afford members an opportunity to test it in a 
more definite way, he says: “The ayes” (or noes, as 
the case may be) “ seem to have it, unless you call foi 
a division.” If, after pausing a moment, no one calls 
for a division, he announces: “The ayes have it;” or, 
“ The noes have it.” 

72. If any one member calls for a division, it must 
be ordered by the chair. For this purpose, he will 
8ay: “ A division is called for. All in favor of the 
proposition will signify it by rising. Remain standing 
until you are counted.” After the number in the 
affirmative has been announced by the tellers to the 
chair, and by him to the assembly, the presiding officer 
will say: “ Reverse your positions. All opposed to 
the proposition will signify it by rising.” The nunfber 
voting in the negative also will be announced by the 
chair, and the result declared. 

73. Legislative bodies, and others also, should they 
be large, appoint two or four tellers,—an equal num¬ 
ber from each side of the question. When there are two 
recording officers, in assemblies generally that are not 
legislative, they can usually act as tellers in every case. 

74. When the assembly is not very large, the mem¬ 
bers can be counted as they stand. But when the 
numbers are very great, and it is, in consequence, dif¬ 
ficult to count with accuracy, it is usual for the tellers 
to take their position in front of the president’s chair, 
and to count the members as they pass between them, 
one at a time. In such a case, th'e words used by the 
chair will vary according to the circumstances. 

75. Should any questions of order or of privilege 
arise during a division, they must be decided by the 
chair peremptorily, subject to be reversed by the a* 


HOW TO DISPOSE OF PROPOSITIONS. 


33 


sembty after the division is over. Otherwise, there 
may occur a division upon a division. Should the 
chair be in doubt, and seek the advice of experienced 
members, it must be given by the members sitting, and 
in legislative bodies, with their hats on, to avoid the 
appearance of debate. 

?6. Another way of taking the question is by the 
yeas and nays. For an explanation of this, see the 
Appendix. 


CHAPTER V. 

OF THE VARIOUS CHANGES MEASURES MAY UN- 
DERGO; OF THE FORMS OF QUESTION IN¬ 
VENTED TO EFFECT THOSE CHANGES; AND 
OF THE QUESTIONS INCIDENTAL TO, AND 
GROWING OUT OF THESE QUESTIONS. 

77. Propositions may strike an assembly in various 
ways. First, Some may seem unprofitable, or productive 
of embarrassment, should they be discussed or voted on 
directly. These an assembly would like to suppress. 
For this purpose have been invented the forms of ques¬ 
tion — the previous question, and indefinite postponement. 
The former is effective to suppress debate and all ap¬ 
pendages to a main motion; the latter to evade a direct 
vote on the question. Second, The proposition may 
seem meritorious, but may be in such a crude state as 
to make it difficult for a large assembly to reduce it 
with convenience to a proper form. To meet this case, 
the assembly can refer it to a committee . Third, The 
proposition may meet wLh favor, but there may be 
other things claiming immediate attention, or the as¬ 
sembly may desire time to obtain information on it. 
To defer it for the present, therefore, they have the 
forms of question — to lie on the table; or to postpone to 
a time definite. Fourth , They may be favorable to * 



34 


OF TIIE VARIOUS QUESTIONS. 


proposition in the main, but dissatisfied with certain 
particulars that can be easily changed in the asiembly. 
In this case, they entertain the proposition, and proceed 
to perfect it by amendments. These questions directly 
affect the principal motion, and are therefore called 
subsidiary or secondary questions. The following then 
is the list of subsidiary or secondary questions : Cl) to 
lie on the table; (2) to postpone to a time definite; (3) 
for the previous question; (4) to postpone indefinitely; 
(5) to commit; (6) to amend. To this list, for want 
of a better place, may be added, (7) the motion to re¬ 
consider— a form of question peculiar to this country. 

78. During proceedings on principal or on subsidi¬ 
ary motions, questions may arise incidental to them. 
First, Exceptions may be taken to the manner or order 
of proceeding. These give rise to questions of order. 
Second, It may be thought important at any stage of 
proceedings to have a document read that bears upon 
the question. This gives occasion to the motion to read 
papers. Third, The mover of a proposition may have 
changed his mind, and may desire to remove it from 
before the assembly after it has been voted on. For 
this he can ask leave to withdraw his motion. Fourth, 
There may exist a rule which prevents the assembly 
from entertaining a proposition or from prosecuting it 
in the way it then desires. To meet this case, a mo¬ 
tion to suspend the ride is in order. The incidental 
questions then are: (1) questions of order; (2) motions 
for the reading of papers; (3) leave to withdraw a 
motion; and (4) suspension of a rule. Incidental 
questions take precedence of a principal motion, and 
of those of the subsidiary questions out of which they 
grow. Some of these questions merely supersede the 
main motion for a time, and, when decided, leave it as 
it was before; as, e. g., motions for the reading of papers, 
and some questions of order. Some of them supersede 
the main motion until they are decided, and, when do- 
cidea one way, dispose of it entirely; as, e. g., when 
leave is granted to withdraw, or when, on a point being 


O? THE VARIOUS QUESTIONS. 


35 


raised, it is decided that the main motion is out of 
order. If they are decided in another way, they leave 
the main motion in the conditio., it was in, when it 
was arrested by the incidental question. 

79. But there are circumstances in which an assem¬ 
bly may be placed which render it indispensable that 
there should be forms of question paramount to all 
others. First, The assembly may be exhausted by long 
attention to business, and needs a method by which to 
obtain relief. For this purpose, it needs the motion to 
adjourn. Second , It may wish to set apart a particular 
time for a particular subject. This it does by what it 
calls orders of the day. Third, Its meetings may be 
disturbed by the intrusion of strangers, or by rencoun¬ 
ters among its own members; or the rights and priv¬ 
ileges of its individual members may be infringed. 
This gives rise to motions relating to rights and privi¬ 
leges. These three forms, because they take precedence 
of all other questions, are called privileged questions. 
The last is distinguished from the first two by the dis¬ 
tinctive title, questions of privilege. 

80. It will be seen then that of questions that can 
supersede principal motions, there are three classes: 

I. Subsidiary Questions: Lie on the table; Post¬ 
pone to a time definite; Previous Question; Post¬ 
ponement indefinite; Commitment; and Amendment. 
To this list let there be added the Motion to Recon 
eider. 

II. Incidental Questions: Questions of Order; 
Reading of Papers; Withdrawal of a Motion ; Suspen¬ 
sion of a Rule. 

III. Privileged Questions: Adjournment; Ques¬ 
tions of Privilege; and Orders of the day. 

81. The following may be given as an example of 
the way in which questions may accumulate by super¬ 
seding and sujpending one another for the time. (3) 
there is a principal motion pending ; (2) a motion is 
made to amend; (8) another motion is made to amend 
the amendment; (4) a proposition is made to commit ,* 


36 


SUBSIDIARY QUEST 0N8. 


(5) a point of order is raised; (6) a question of priv 
ilege is raised; (7) it is moved to adjourn. The prope? 
mode of proceeding in such a case is to put the ques¬ 
tion first on the motion to adjourn. If that be de« 
cided in the negative, then to settle the question of 
privilege; after that decide the point of order; then, 
to put the question on the motion to commit. If the 
assembly refuse to commit, the questions are to be 
taken on the amendments in the reverse order, and 
finally on the principal motion amended or unamended. 


CHAPTER VI. 

SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS. 

82. As has been said, subsidiary or secondary ques¬ 
tions are those which are used to dispose of the main 
motion either permanently or temporarily, in the man¬ 
ner desired by the assembly. These questions are de¬ 
signed to postpone, to suppress, to commit, or to amend. 

SECT. I.—MOTIONS TO POSTPONE. 

83. There are two forms of motion to effect the post¬ 
ponement of a question: the motion to lie on the table; 
and the motion to postpone to a time definite. While 
these are alike in the fact that each effects a removal 
of the question temporarily from before the assembly, 
they differ in grade, and somewhat also as to the occa¬ 
sions on which they are moved, and in regard to the 
influence exercised on the questions thus removed. 
The motion to postpone to a time definite within the 
session is usually, if not always, made by the friends 
of the proposition ; and is induced by the desire to ob¬ 
tain information, or to secure a larger attendance of 
the members, or a longer time for its consideration: 



MOTIONS TO POSTPONE. 


31 


the motion to lie on the table is as often made by th* 
enemies as by the friends of the measure; and may be 
employed not only to give way to a measure of more 
pressing importance, but to get r : d of the proposition 
altogether. A proposition postponed to a time definite, 
becomes a privileged question for that time: a propo¬ 
sition laid on the table remains there until called up, 
on motion, by the vote of a majority. A motion to 
lie on the table is of higher grade than a motion to 
postpone to a time definite; and the former can sup¬ 
press the latter. 

1.— To Lie on the Table . 

84. The motion to lie on the table takes precedence 
of all other subsidiary questions. But it is subor¬ 
dinate to all three of the privileged questions: viz., 
to adjourn ; for the orders of the day; and questions 
of privilege. This is according to the general parlia¬ 
mentary code. In Congress, by special rule, it is sub¬ 
ordinate only to the motion to adjourn. 

85. If the motion to lie on the table be decided in 
the affirmative, it removes from the assembly the prin¬ 
cipal motion together with all the subsidiary and in¬ 
cidental motions attached to it at the time. When the 
proposition is again taken from the table* it revives 
and stands in the exact form, and with all the ap¬ 
pendages pertaining to it at the time the motion to lie 
on the table prevailed. 

86. If decided in the negative, it may be renewed 
whenever new business intervenes, or when the matter 
has progressed so far as in effect to become a new propo¬ 
sition. If decided in the negative, the business pro¬ 
ceeds as if the motion had not been made. 

87. It is in order to move to take the subject from 
the table at any time; and, should the motion be de¬ 
cided in the negative, to renew it again and again, pro¬ 
vided any business has intervened between the votes. 

88. This motion is sometimes used abusively, and 
4 


3S 


SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS. 


made to perform the office of the previous question and 
indefinite postponement combined; since the same 
majority that lays a proposition on the table can keep 
it there permanently. This is to pervert it from its 
legitimate use, and make it a motion to suppress in¬ 
stead of one to postpone a proposition. Nothing can 
be legitimately laid on the table excepting what can 
be taken up again. Hence the usage in Congress is 
disorderly and abusive which allows a member, when 
an appeal is taken from the decision of the speaker, to 
move that the appeal do lie on the table. 

89. This motion is not debatable, and is not subject 
to amendment. 

In the United States House of Representatives, April 16, 1S52, 
the Report of the Committee on Printing being under consideration, 
. . . . “ Mr. Gorman having concluded the debate, Mr. Polk moved 
that the whole subject be laid on the table. Mr. Howard made the 
point of order, that, inasmuch as the character of the question was 
unchanged since a similar motion had been made and voted down, it 
was not in order at this time to submit the motion. The speaker 
stated, that since the former motion to lay on the table, there had not 
only been intervening motions, but further debate; he therefore over¬ 
ruled the point of order. From this decision of the chair, Mr. Howard 
appealed; when, on motion of Mr. Stanley, it was ordered that the 
appeal be laid on the table. So the decision of the chair was sus¬ 
tained.” 

January 27, 1353. “Mr. Stanley moved that the said bill be com¬ 
mitted to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the 
Union, and printed; pending which, Mr. Sweetser moved that the bill 
be laid on the table ; and the question being put, it was decided in 
the affirmative. So the bill was laid on the table. Mr. Stanley 
having called up the motion submitted by him, to print the bill, tho 
speaker decided that the effect of the vote to lay the bill on the table 
Uau been to lay upon the table the motion to print, and all other 
motions connected therewith ; it was too late, therefore, to call up tho 
motion to print. From this decision of the chair Mr. Stanley ap¬ 
pealed; when, on motion of Mr. Orr, the appeal was laid on the 
table,” etc. 


2. Postpone to a Time Definite. 

90. As has been said, a motion to postpone to a time 
definite is subordinate to a motion to lie on the table, 
and may be suppressed by it; but it is of the same 
grade with all the other subsidiary motions, excepting. 


OF MOTIONS TO SUPPRESS. 


39 


that to amend, to which it is superior, and cannot be 
suppressed by them. 

91. Its effect, when decided in the affirmative, is to 
remove the subject from before the assembly until the 
time designated; and to make it a privileged question 
for that time. If decided in the negative, it leaves the 
question before the assembly as it was before the motion 
was made; and it cannot be moved a second time. 

92. It is susceptible of amendment. It may be 
moved to substitute one day for another. In this case, 
the time may be considered a blank; and the chair 
should treat propositions as he would those to fill 
blanks. (See par. 140.) 

93. On a motion to postpone to a time definite, it is 
not in order to speak to the merits of the question thus 
proposed to be postponed. It will not be out of order, 
though, to speak strictly to the proposition to postpone, 
and to show why one time is preferred to another. 
The chair should hold speakers rigidly to these points. 
In Congress, all debate is interdicted. 

94. This motion is sometimes abusively made by 
designating a day known to be beyond the session. It 
becomes then a motion to suppress, and should be 
treated by the chair as though it had been the motion 
for indefinite postponement. 

SECT. II. — OF MOTIONS TO SUPPRESS. 

95. It sometimes happens that propositions are made, 
the discussion of which would have an injurious effect, 
or to vote on which, either for or against, would need¬ 
lessly embarrass members. It may be, also, that a 
principal motion may be acceptable while its append¬ 
ages may be objectionable. Assemblies, therefore, need 
forms of question which will enable them, if they deem 
it expedient, to suppress discussion; to evade a direct 
vote on the merits of a question; and to cut off all 
proposed amendments, and obtain a vote directly on 
the main question. To suppress discussion, and Uj 


40 


SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS. 


bring on a direct vote on the main question, they use 
the previous question ; to evade a direct vote on the 
merits of the question, they use indefinite postponement 

1. Previous Question . 

. 96. This question has undergone so many changes 
since it was first introduced, that some discrimination 
is necessary to obtain a clear conception of it. There 
are, in fact, three distinct significations 'to it as it ia 
interpreted by three distinct systems. First. The pre¬ 
vious question of the English parliamentary law is one 
thing* second. The previous question of the American 
parliamentary law is another thing; and third. The 
previous question of congressional rule is another thing 
still. They all have the same form or words to the 
question, viz., “Shall the main question be now put?” 
but they each attach their own and a distinct significa¬ 
tion to it. 

First. In the English Parliament, the question is 
designed to suppress a principal motion;— i. e., to re¬ 
move it from before the house, and to prevent debate 
upon it. These are, and always have been, the solo 
intentions of it. At first, it was in the form, “ Shall 
the main question be put?” and it was moved to secure 
a vote in the negative. If decided thus, it removed 
the main question from the house for the remainder of 
the session. Subsequently, it was changed to the form 
it now bears: “Shall the main question be now put?” 
and, if carried according to the wishes of its mover, it 
suppressed the main question for the remainder of the 
day. If, contrary to the wishes of the mover, it be 
decided in the affirmative, he will have accomplished 
but a part of his object, viz., to cut offi debate; and 
the main question will have to be put without any 
further delay. Another peculiaritv of this question, 
under English parliamentary law, is, that it cannot 
be moved when a motion to amend is pending. Under 
this system, then, the previous question is moved by the 


OP MOTIONS TO SUPPRESS. 


4) 


opponents of the principal motion; and is designed t< 
cut off debate, and to exclude the main question from 
the house without a direct vote on it. 

Second . In American parliamentary law, the parties 
who make the motion, and the end sought to be accom¬ 
plished by it, are diametrically opposed to the same 
under the English code. There, the mover is the 
enemy ; here, the friend, to the main question. There, 
the object sought is to exclude the proposition from the 
house; here, it is not only to retain it, but to secure 
its passage. Besides, in America, the previous ques¬ 
tion can be applied to the main question with, or with¬ 
out, amendment pending. The effect, then, here of the 
previous question is to stop debate, and to cut off all 
amendments, if any are pending, and to bring the 
assembly to vote at once and directly on the main 
question. 

Third. The previous question of Congressional rule. 
This is'simply an expedient to prevent, or stop, debate, 
and to bring the house to vote on pending questions in 
the order in which they stood before the previous ques¬ 
tion was moved. 

This Manual is based upon American parliamentary 
law; and what follows is designed to illustrate the 
previous question under it. 

The Previous Question , under American Parliamentary 
Law . 

97. Why is this called “ the previous question ” ? 
The answer will be suggested in this and the two fol¬ 
lowing paragraphs. All subsidiary questions are 
“ previous ” to the principal question,— i. e., they are 
to be answered in the affirmative or negative previously 
to the submission of the principal motion; but, though 
essentially no more previous than they, this has hap¬ 
pened to monopolize that term as a distinctive title, 
and goes by the name of the previous question. 

98. It will be remembered that a motion, when stated 
4 * 


42 


SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS. 


by tlie chair to the house, becomes a question because 
it then assumes a form in which it can be answered by 
Yes, or No. Now, the principal motion, already stated 
by the chair, is itself a question; and when on motion 
he puts, in advance the question, “ Shall the main ques¬ 
tion be now put?” we have two questions, the latter 
of which takes precedence of the former, and must be 
put to the vote first. It is called a “ question,” then, 
because it is in a form in which it can be answered by 
Yes, or No; and, “previous,” because, if moved, it 
must be answered before the main question is. 

, 99. But before the previous question can itself be 

put, theie is another question still previous to it, which 
the chair must put to the assembly, and get it answered 
in the affirmative,—viz.: “Shall the call for the 
previous question be seconded?” So that, in all 
applications of the previous question, there are in 
reality three questions that must be put to the house, 
provided that the first two be answered in the affirma¬ 
tive : First . “ Shall the call for the previous question 
be seconded?” Second. “Shall the main question be 
now put?” Third. “Shall the principal motion be 
adopted by the house?” 

100. The previous question has supremacy over a 
motion to amend, and can suppress it; but it is subor¬ 
dinate to a motion to lie on the table. It is of the 
same grade with the other subsidiary questions, viz.: 
to postpone and to commit; and, when either of them 
is pending, it is not in order to move it. 

101. It is not debatable, and not liable to amend¬ 
ment. When decided in the affirmative, it requires 
the main question to be immediately put, unless pro¬ 
ceedings are stopped for the time by a motion to lie 
on the table, or to adjourn. If it is decided in the 
negative,-^ viz., that the main question shall not now 
t>e put, it leaves the main question as it was before it 
vyas moved; and the debate and proceedings are con¬ 
tinued on it*as before. This is in accordance with the 
general American code. (In Congress, if decided in the 


OF MOIIONS TO SUPPRESS. 


43 


negative, it removes the main question from l-efore the 
house for that day. ) 

102. The main question is in all cases, in bodies not 
legislative, the original motion with all amendments 
cut off, excepting those already adopted. 

103. Originally, the call for the previous question 
was seconded by a vote of one-fifth of the members. 
Now, it requires a majority to second the call. 

104. The use of the previous question, then, in all 
assemblies under American parliamentary law, is , first, 
to stop debate; and, second , to cut off all amendments 
that may be pending, and bring the body at once and 
exclusively to vote on the original proposition, in its 
then condition, amended or unamended. While, then, 
in England, its use is to suppress a main question, in 
this country it has been so changed, perhaps perverted, 
that if it suppresses anything besides debate, it is only 
the appendages to a main question. 

iOo. The following may be given as a method of 
proceeding when the call for the previous question is 
moved : The presiding officer will rise and say, “ A 
call is made for the previous question, shall the call be 
seconded? All in favor of seconding the call, will 
say, aye.” He will put the negative also. If a ma¬ 
jority sustain the call, he will put the second question, 
“ Shall the main question be now put? all in favor say, 
aye.” If, in the intervals between these votes, it be 
moved to lie on the table, or to adjourn, the chair 
must put these questions in the order of their prece¬ 
dence, unless the motion to adjdurn be decided affirm¬ 
atively. If both be decided in the negative, he is to 
take up the previous question at the place where pro¬ 
ceedings were interrupted. Should the motion to ad¬ 
journ prevail, when the subject comes before the as¬ 
sembly again, the chair is to take it up at the place at 
which it was interrupted by the motion to adjourn. 
The same holds good should it be laid on the table. 
When it is again taken from the table, it must be re¬ 
sumed and carried on as it would have been had no 


44 


SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS. 


interruption taken plac6. The main question must be 
put without further delay or debate. 

In the U. S. House of Representatives, Maroh 29th, 1854, "The 
house was then divided on seconding the call for the previous question; 
and there were — ayes 66, noes 64. So there was a second. The ques¬ 
tion then recurred on ordering the main question to be put. — Mr. 
1)avis, of Rhode Island. ‘ I demand the yeas and nays.’ The yea* 
and nays were not ordered. The main question was then ordered to 
be put. The question now being on the adoption of the resolution, 
Mr. Washburn, of Illinois, moved to lay the resolution on the table, 
and upon that motion, demanded the yeas and nays. The yeas and 
nays were ordered. The question was then put; and it was decided 
in the negative, — yeas 63, nays 94. So the house refused to lay the 
resolution on the table. The question recurred on the adoption of the 
resolution; and being put, it was decided in the affirmative. So the 
resolution was adopted.” * 

106. This question, like the motion to lie on the 
table, has been perverted by Congress into an engine 
of oppression in the hands of a majority. In that 
body, it is allowed a member to make a motion, and 
follow it immediately, in the same breath, by the call 
for the previous question. This is out of order, and 
oppressive, and should not be tolerated by the presiding 
officer. The principle should be rigidly maintained 
that a member can make but one motion at a time; 
and his call for the previous question, in the circum¬ 
stances, should always be disregarded and ignored. 
The previous question, under congressional usage, is 
the engine of the tyrant, and inconsistent with institu¬ 
tions that claim to be republican. The previous ques¬ 
tion under American parliamentary law is less excep¬ 
tionable ; but even it should be restricted to the nar¬ 
rowest limits possible. 

107. This question, under the American code, is not 
only ruled out by all the privileged questions, and by 
other subsidiary questions, on the conditions mentioned 
in paragraph 100, but at least in one case, where none 
of these questions are pending, it is excluded by the 
very principles of its own nature. It cannot, e. g., 
be applied when it is attempted to correct the minutes 

* Congressional Globe, Vel. xxviii. Tart 2, p. 789. 


OF MOTION S TO SUPPRESS. 


45 


of a previous day’s proceedings. At the Southern 
Baptist convention at Russellville, Ky., May 1866, one 
item of a previous day’s minutes was excepted to. It 
was moved to amend, and to amend the amendment. 
On this, debate occurred of a delicate character, and 
rather protracted. To stop this debate, the previous 
question was moved. This the chair ruled out of order; 
and correctly. The principle is this: The minutes 
were charged with error; if so, it was necessary that 
they should be corrected. But the effect of the pre¬ 
vious question would have been, in part, to suppress all 
propositions to correct. Therefore, that which, in its 
very nature, contained a declaration that that should 
not be done which must be done, is out of order, and 
inadmissible. Again, suppose that members, influenced 
merely by a desire to stop debate, should have sustained 
the call; but when the main question was put, (which, 
in this case, would have been that the item should 
stand in the very words of the clerk,) should have 
voted not to sustain the accuracy of the record —what 
then? They would have voted both that the record 
was erroneous and that they would not correct it. For 
the previous question suppresses not only debate but also 
all propositions to amend. 

108. All incidental questions, after the previous ques¬ 
tion is moved, must be decided without debate. 

2. Indefinite Postponement, 

109. As has been said, this motion is designed to 
evade a direct vote on the merits of a question. It is 
of American origin, and performs in part the office of 
the English parliamentary previous question, in that it 
ruppresses a principal motion — i. e., removes it from 
before the house without taking a direct vote on it. It 
is of the same grade with the motions to commit and for 
the previous question, and cannot be moved while either 
is pending. 

110. The motion for indefinite postponement lap 


46 


SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS. 


open tlie whole question for discussion, on the principle 
that whatever motion proposes to make a final disposi- 
tion of a question brings up for discussion all its merits. 
Nor is even the previous question an exception to this. 
That, if sustained, does not make a final disposition of 
the pending proposition; for it compels a direct vote 
subsequently for or against the main question. To lie 
on the table, and to postpone to a time definite, are not 
debatable, because they only temporarily defer measures. 
Debate, therefore, may be withheld until they come 
again before the assembly in order. 

111. The motion to indefinitely postpone cannot bo 
amended. It has been held by some writers on parlia¬ 
mentary law that it can be amended by striking out 
the word “ indefinitely ” and inserting a definite day ; 
but this is, by amendment, to transform one form ol* 
question into another, which is clearly inadmissible. 
“A motion ’to suppress” cannot be, by amendment, 
transformed into “ a motion to defer.” 

112. When a motion to indefinitely postpone pre¬ 
vails, the proposition so postponed cannot be renewed 
during the session. 

113. It is not in order to move to indefinitely post¬ 
pone the motion for a subsidiary or incidental question ; 
as, e. g., a motion to amend, or a point of order raised ; 
since the appendage cannot be separated from its prin¬ 
cipal. But subsidiary questions subordinate to this 
may be indefinitely postponed together with the prin¬ 
cipals to which they are attached. 

SECT. III. — OF COMMITMENT. 

114. As has been observed, if a proposition in the 
main meets the approbation of an assembly, but is in 
such a crude state as to make it inconvenient to amend 
it by a large body, it is customary to refer it to a com¬ 
mittee, with or without instructions; or, if it has been 
already reported on, to recommit it in the same way. 

115. When there are two motions, one to refer ths 


OF AMENDMENT. 


47 


proposition or document to a standing committee and 
another to a select committee, the question is to be 
taken on the standing committee first. But a part of 
a document or proposition may be referred to one com¬ 
mittee and another to another. 

116. On the motion to commit, the merits of the 
proposition are not open for discussion; because such 
reference is not a final disposition of the question, and 
when reported back to the house it will still be open 
for discussion. The chair, therefore, should hold the 
debate strictly to the motion to commit. But if in¬ 
structions be added to the motion to commit, the merits 
of the question are open for discussion. 

117. Commitment is of the same grade as postpone¬ 
ment and the previous question, and cannot supplant 
or be supplanted by them. 

SECT. IV. — OF AMENDMENT. 

118. There are three ways by which a proposition 
may be amended, viz., by inserting or adding words; 
by striking out; and by striking out and inserting. 

119. Wltien a proposition consists of several para¬ 
graphs, sections, or resolutions, the natural order is to 
commence at the beginning and proceed to amend it 
paragraph by paragraph in succession. When a latter 
part is amended, it is not in order to recur back and 
amend a former part. The proper course is for the 
presiding officer to read or cause to be read the prop¬ 
osition, pausing at the end of each paragraph, and 
inquiring if any amendment is proposed. Should none 
be offered, he will pass on to the next, and so on to the 
end. But there is an exception to this in the case of a 
preamble. As amendment of the resolutions may re¬ 
quire a corresponding alteration in the preamble, this 
latter is not to be considered and amended until the 
resolutions have been perfected. 

120. It would seem from the meaning of the word 
amendment, that none but the friends of a proposition 


48 


SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS. 


should propose any changes in it, and that the design 
of every motion to amend should be to perfect it; but 
this is not always in fact the case. The enemies of a 
proposition may'so alter it by amendment as to entirely 
change its meaning and intent. This is sometimes 
done by those who are able to vote down the proposi¬ 
tion, but who, for sufficient reason, desire to put it in 
such a shape as to make its supporters vote against it 
themselves. In one of the religious conventions, it 
was thought desirable to make a special effort to in¬ 
vigorate its State denominational paper, that was in a 
languishing condition. For this purpose, a resolution 
was introduced commending it to the people, and pro¬ 
posing besides to the convention definite and decisive 
action. It was moved to amend this by inserting after 
its name, in the clause recommending it, the name of 
a paper in another State. This motion was considered 
very mal-a-propos, and could easily have been voted 
down. But it was thought desirable to avoid the. ap¬ 
pearance of opposition to the paper of the other State; 
so it was proposed to amend the amendment by adding, 
“And all the papers in the United States, both secular 
and religious; ” which was carried in the affirmative. 
The amendment thus amended was unanimously re¬ 
jected. 

121. The inconsistency or incompatibility of a pro¬ 
posed amendment with one already adopted, may be a 
sufficient ground for its rejection by the assembly, but 
does not justify the presiding officer in ruling it as out 
of order. Consistency or compatibility among propo¬ 
sitions to amend does not come within the domains of 
order as controlled by the chair. Were he to claim 
and exercise such jurisdiction, he would embarrass and 
hinder rather than subserve the will of an assembly. 
This is not inconsistent with the principles laid down 
in paragraph 65. There the inconsistency relates to 
main motions which have been already adopted: here, 
to subsidiary motions designed to shape main proposi¬ 
tions preparatory to final action ; and it has been shown 


OP AMENDMENT. 


49 


above that, to secure the rejection of propositions, it is 
legitimate to so shape them as to make them absurd and 
ridiculous. 

122. Every amendment, which may he proposed, is 
itself subject to amendment in all three of the ways 
in which it can be effected. (See 118.) But it is not 
in order to amend an amendment to an amendment. 
To avoid embarrassment, a limit must be fixed to 
these motions ; and usage has fixed it after an amend¬ 
ment to an amendment. If the assembly should be 
dissatisfied with the pending amendment to the amend¬ 
ment, the remedy is to vote it down, and then enter¬ 
tain it again moved in such a shape as to meet its views. 

123. When an amendment is pending, motions to 
amend must be limited exclusively to it; i. e . f —the 
only motions in order are to insert words into the 
amendment, or to add words to it; to strike words out 
of it; and to strike words out of it and insert others 
in their place. It will not be in order, therefore, when 
a motion to amend a paragraph is pending, to move as 
an amendment to the amendment to alter the words of 
another paragraph, or to strike out the whole para¬ 
graph proposed to be changed by the first motion. The 
reason for this is simple. While there may be many 
questions before an assembly at the same time, there 
is but one that can engage its attention at a time. All 
the others are temporarily supplanted and held in sus¬ 
pense by this. Now, in this case, the question in 
order before the house is the pending amendment. To 
this then all motions must be limited until it is dis¬ 
posed of. 


In the U. S. House of Representatives, March 31st, 1854, “The 
question was then taken on Mb. Cobb's amendment to the amend¬ 
ment; and it was rejected. The question recurred on Mr. Cling- 
kan’s amendment. Mr. Matteson. ‘Is it in order now to offer an 
amendment to the first section of the bill?' The Chairbian. ‘It is 
in order.’ Mr. Bocock. ‘There is an amendment already pending. 
The amendment of the gentleman from New York will not, there¬ 
to' e, be in order, except as an amendment to the amendment.' The 
Cbuij'kan. ‘ That is true. There is an amendment pending. Boel 

10 D 


50 


SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS. 


the gentleman from New York propose to offer an amendment fc« 
that amendment?* Mr. Matteson. ‘No, sir; it is a substantive 
amendment, and I will reserve it until the pending question is dis¬ 
posed of.’ ” * 

124. In the English Parliament, when it is proposed 
to strike out certain words, and it is moved to amend 
the amendment by striking out certain words in it, it 
is always put to the house whether the words proposed 
to be stricken out of the amendment shall stand in the 
original proposition ; if it is carried in the affirmative, 
those words are retained and cannot afterwards be al¬ 
tered, if stricken out they cannot be again restored. 
But it is different in this country by American parlia¬ 
mentary law, and by the usage of all bodies. Here, 
the question is invariably put, “ Shall the words be 
stricken out of the amendment?” and the modification 
is designed directly to affect only it. If the amend¬ 
ment to the amendment prevails, that does not neces¬ 
sarily decide that the words shall stand in the original 
proposition without a liability of alteration: if the 
amendment to the amendment be voted down, that does 
not mean that the words are stricken out of the orig¬ 
inal proposition. Whatever may be the result of the 
vote on the amendment to the amendment, the sole 
meaning of it is, according to the American code, that 
that is the form in which the amendment shall be pro¬ 
posed to the main proposition. Some writers on parlia¬ 
mentary science and some able presiding officers err in 
not recognizing this difference between the English and 
American code. 

125. Whatever is agreed to by an assembly either 
adopting or rejecting a proposed amendment cannot be 
altered or amended; and whatever is disagreed to can¬ 
not be moved again. There is no contradiction here of 
the principle laid down in paragraph 121. All amend¬ 
ments that can be adopted or rejected must consist of 
words that can be inserted or added ; or struck out; or 
struck out and inserted. Thus, if it be moved to in- 

* Cong. Gl, Yol. xxviii. Part 2, p. 827. 


OF AMENDMENT. 


61 


sert into a proposition certain words, and the motion pro* 
vails, those words cannot afterwards be amended because 
they have been agreed to in that form; so, if it be 
moved to strike out certain words, and the amendment 
is rejecled, those words cannot afterwards be amended, 
because a vote against striking them out is equivalent 
to a vol3 agreeing to them as they stand. In like man¬ 
ner, if it be moved to amend by inserting certain words, 
and the amendment is rejected, those words cannot b® 
moved again ; for they have been disagreed to by a 
vote; so also, if it is moved to amend by striking out 
certain words, and the amendment prevails, those words 
cannot be restored, because they have been disagreed 
to by a vote. 

126. While it is true, as asserted above, that when 
it is moved to strike out certain words and the motion 
fails, these words or a part of them cannot be struck 
out afterwards, it is still true that it is in order to move 
to strike out all of those words with others, or a part 
of them with others, provided the connection is such 
as to make them distinct propositions from the former. 
In like manner, while it will not be in order to insert 
again the words or a part of them struck out by 
amendment, it will be admissible to move to insert again 
the same words with others, or a part of the same words 
with others, provided the coherence is such as to make 
them distinct propositions from the former. 

127. On a motion to amend by striking out or in¬ 
serting, the mode of proceeding is, first, to read the 
paragraph as it is; then, the words to be stricken out 
or inserted ; and, finally, the whole passage as it would 
be if amended. 

128. The third form of amending propositions — 
viz., by striking out and inserting—is a combination 
of the first two, and is governed by the same principles. 
If there is no special rule forbidding, it may be divided; 
and the question may be taken first on the motion to 
strike out, and, if that prevail, then on the motion to 
insert. If the motion to strike out fails, the accom- 


62 SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS. 

panying motion to insert will, of course, fall to the 
ground. Il is customary in this country to put the two 
questions as one; and Congress has a special rule to 
that effect. 

129. If the motion to strike out and insert should 
fail, that will not prevent another motion to strike out 
and insert something else; since, undivided, these are 
two distinct motions. It may, indeed, be moved to 
“strike out the same words and, 1, insert nothing; 2, 
insert other words; 3, insert the same words with 
others : 4, insert a part of the same words with others; 
5, strike out the same words with others, and insert the 
same; 6, strike out a part of the same words with 
others, and insert the same; 7, strike out other words 
and insert the same; and, 8, insert the same words, 
without striking out anything.” 

130. This is limited, though, to propositions to amend 
portions of the words of a paragraph; it is not appli¬ 
cable to the paragraph, section, or resolution, as a 
whole. A refusal to strike out all the words of a 
paragraph is equivalent to a vote to retain them all; 
and as there are no other words with which the whole 
or a part of the paragraph can be connected, so as bj 
their coherence to form a different proposition, it is 
evident that the words of the paragraph are susceptible 
of no other amendment. It may be asked, in what 
respect does this case differ from that in which the 
principle is laid down that, after the motion to strike 
out and insert words is lost, it may still be moved to 
strike out and insert other words? The answer is, that 
the motion to strike out a paragraph is not pertinent 
until all desired amendments have been made to it; 
or until the proper amendment is offered which is 
deemed a suitable substitute for it. The principle is 
contained in the following quotation from Jefferson’s 
Manual: * “ If it is proposed to amend by striking out 
a paragraph, tin friends of the paragraph are first to 


• Section XXXV. 


OP AMENDMENT. 


51 


make it as perfect as they can by amendments, before 
the question is put for striking it out. If, on the ques¬ 
tion, it be retained, it cannot be amended afterwards; 
because a vote against striking ort is equivalent to a 
^pte agreeing to it in that form.” But, after the mo¬ 
tion to strike out a paragraph and substitute another 
in its place is lost, it is still in order to move to strike 
it out, on the principle of striking out the same after 
it. has been amended; or, on the principle of rejecting, 
in "he firal vote, a resolution that the assembly has 
already by vote refused to accept a substitute for. 

131. On this principle, then, suppose a substitute is 
offered for a bill or a resolution. As a substitute is 
but a motion to strike out all after the enacting clause 
or the word Resolved , and insert that offered as a 
substitute, it is simply an amendment. As such, it is 
the subject before the assembly ; and all amendments 
must be applied to it until it is perfected. Now, sup¬ 
pose when the substitute is put to the vote, it is rejected 
— what then? The answer is, the original bill or 
resolution is not susceptible of amendment; and must 
be adopted or rejected as it is. In the case supposed, 
those who are in favor of the main features of the bill 
or resolution, but except to some important particulars 
in it, which they would like to amend, are driven to 
the necessity of voting against a measure important in 
the main, or else of accepting and being responsible 
for provisions that they deem inexpedient, and, on 
principle, are opposed to. Is there no remedy for this 
embarrassment ? 

132. The remedy is found in the principle above laid 
down by Jefferson : “The friends of a paragraph [bill 
or resolution] are first to make it as perfect as they 
can by amendments before the question is put for 
striking it out.” For this .purpose, they must raise 
the point of order; for the chair has no right to assume 
that the principal proposition is not in a shape to suit 
members; and, least of all, has he a right to attempt 
to checkmate members, who may be employing parlia- 

6* 


SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS. 


54 


mentary tactics. When the point is raised, the chair 
will sustain it; and the method of proceeding then will 
be to go on with amending the substitute until it is 
perfected, and then lay it on the table. The principal 
proposition will then be taken up for amendment; and, 
finally, the question will be put on the adoption of the 
perfected substitute in lieu of the perfected principal 
proposition. If the vote be in the negative, the prin¬ 
cipal proposition—while it is susceptible of no further 
amendment, if a bill or resolution—may still be re¬ 
jected ; and, if a paragraph or section, may still be 
stricken out. 

133. The usual mode of proceeding on a motion to 
strike out and insert, is to read the proposition as it 
now stands; then, the part proposed to be stricken out; 
after this, that which is proposed to be inserted; and, 
finally, the whole passage as it would read if thus 
amended. 

134. If errors are detected in the minutes of a pre¬ 
vious day’s proceedings, they may be corrected by mo¬ 
tions to amend in any or all the ways indicated in this 
section. But members are limited to motions to correct . 
They may not propose amendments that do not corre¬ 
spond to the facts of the case. The question is not, 
what ought the assembly to have done, but w T hat it did 
in fact do. In moving to amend the journal, there¬ 
fore, members are to act as much in the character of 
witnesses as of legislators. 

Division of a Question . 

135. When a proposition contains two or more parts, 
each of which can stand by itself, if any of the parts 
are objectionable, they may be removed by motions to 
amend by striking out. A more convenient way 
though is by a division of the question, and a consider¬ 
ation of each part as a distinct proposition. 

136. Unless the assembly has a special rule to that 
effect. the division is not ordered upon the demand of 


DIVISION OF A QUESTION. 


55 


ime member; but it must be effected by vote of the 
house on motion in the usual way. When a member 
moves for a division, his motion must state into how 
many and, definitely, what parts he would have it 
divided into. For a proposition, in order to be divis¬ 
ible, must possess parts so distinct that if one or more 
should be taken away the remainder can stand by 
themselves, and be consistent and entire. A qualifying 
paragraph, an exception or a proviso, if taken from 
that to which it belongs, would not contain a distinct 
cr entire proposition. 

United States House of Representatives, April 19,1852. “Mr. Orr 
having moved to recommit the report of the Committee on Printing, 
with instructions, etc., Mr. Stuart demanded a division of the ques¬ 
tion, so that a separate vote might be had first on the recommitment 
and second on the instructions. The Speaker decided that the motion 
to recommit with instructions was indivisible, on the ground that it 
did not contain propositions so distinct that one failing the other 
could stand; if the house should refuse to recommit, there would be 
nothing left with which to connect the instructions. From this deci¬ 
sion of the chair Mr. Stuart appealed; when, on motion ot Mr. Orr, 
it was ordered that the appeal be laid on the table. So the decision 
of the chair was sustained. 

“Mr. Alexander H. Stephens then called for a division of the 
question, so that separate votes might be had on the two brancues of 
the instructions, etc. etc. The Speaker decided that the question was 
indivisible for the same reason that he had just decided the proposi¬ 
tion of Mr. Stuart to be out of order; if, as the house had just sus¬ 
tained him in deciding, the question of recommitment with instructions 
cannot be divided, the instructions themselves cannot be divided, as 
a division will separate the commitment from a purt ot the instruc¬ 
tions, which can no more stand alone than the entire instructions. 
From this decision of the chair Mr. Stephens appealed; when, on 
motion of Mr. Cabell, it was ordered that the appeal be laid on the 
table. So tho decision of the chair was sustained.” 

The same session, Feb. 11th, “ Mr. Stratton, by unanimous 
consent, presented joint resolutions of the legislature ot New Jersey, 
in favor of the compromise measures. The same having been read, 
Mr. Stratton moved that they be laid on the table and printed. A 
division of the question having been called for, the question was first 
put on tho motion to lay on the table, and it was decided in tho 
affirmative. The question then recurring on the motion to print, Mr. 
Giddings rose for the purpose of debating the same; when Mr. Orr 
made the point of order, that, inasmuch as the subject which it was 
proposed to print bad been laid on the table, it was not now compe¬ 
tent for the house to entertain the motion to print. The Speaker 
overrule 1 tbe point ot order* From this decision of the chair Mr* 


56 


SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS. 


Orr appealed; whon, on motion of Mr. Hall, it was ordered that the 
•aid appeal be laid on the table. So the decision of the chair was 
sustained.” 

The Speaker might have avoided the evident incon¬ 
gruity by ruling, as he ought to have done, that the 
question was indivisible.* 

137. A proposition thus divided becomes a series of 
propositions to be considered and acted on one after 
another. 

138. As the opposite of the above, when the matter 
of two propositions had better be consolidated into one, 
the mode of proceeding is to reject one and then incor¬ 
porate the substance of it into the other, by way of 
amendment. 

139. In like manner, if a paragraph or section is to 
be transposed, the usage is by one motion to strike it 
out where it is, and by another to insert it in the place 
desired. But in this case and in that of the paragraph 
above, it would be better to refer the subject to a com¬ 
mittee. 


Filling Blanks . 

140. When propositions are introduced containing 
blanks to be filled either with times or numbers, these 
must be filled before any motion is made to amend. 
To do this, the chair will entertain any number of 
propositions of time or number, not requiring any of 
them to be seconded; and put the propositions to the 
house, beginning with the longest time or largest num¬ 
ber, and continue to submit them to vote in succession 
until a majority is obtained. 

141. This principle, however, is applicable only to 
blanks. If a proposition contain a provision for time 
or number, it is liable to the common rule for amend¬ 
ment, viz., that any words may be struck out and any 
other words inserted in their place. It is in order, 
therefore, to strike out a shorter time or smaller nuin* 


• For a contrary decision in Congress, see p. 38. 


OF RECONSIDERATION. 57 

ber and insert a longer time and larger number, and 
r iee vena. 


SECT. Y. — OF RECONSIDERATION. 

142. The. English Parliament rigidly maintains the 
principle that when a subject has been once decided 
either in the affirmative or negative, it is to remain 
permanently as the judgment of the house. To remedy 
the inconveniences that sometimes occur, it resorts to 
various expedients ; as, by passing an explanatory act, 
or an act to rectify mistakes in an act, &c. In this 
country, in such cases, resort is had to a motion to 
reconsider. 

143. No one is at liberty to move a reconsideration 
unless he voted with the majority. Were it in the 
power of one in the minority, the time of the assembly 
may be wasted by motions to reconsider questions even 
though they may have been decided by overwhelming 
majorities. By majority here is meant the prevailing 
party. Consequently, in the case of a tie vote, none 
but those voting in the negative can make the motion. 
(See 33.) 

144. It is customary in some assemblies for a rule 
to be adopted prescribing the time in which the motion 
can be made, and the number that must be present 
when it is made; but, in those cases where there is no 
rule on the subject, the motion can be made precisely 
as any other motion, and it is subject to no other rules. 
In the absence of rule, then, it is not necessary that the 
same number must be present when the motion is made 
as there were when the vote was passed which is pro¬ 
posed to be reconsidered; and it would be in order at 
any time during the session, provided the paper has 
not passed out of the possession of the assembly. 

145. A motion to reconsider brings up for discussion 
the whole merits of the subject proposed to be recon¬ 
sidered. The reason is, that the motion to leeonsider 
is a new one, “ distinct both from a motion to rescind 


58 


SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS. 


the former vote, and from the subject of it.” Should 
the motion prevail, the merits of the question are again 
brought up for discussion. Consequently, every prop¬ 
osition that has been reconsidered—if debatable at 
all—is liable to a full discussion three times : when it 
is first proposed; when the motion is made to recon¬ 
sider ; and when that motion has prevailed. 

146. A proposition reconsidered is again before the 
assembly in the form it was in immediately before it 
was voted on; and it is again subject to all those 
changes to which it was liable anterior to that vote. 

147. It cannot be moved to reconsider a second time 
a proposition already reconsidered. But if after such 
reconsideration it has been so amended as to become in 
effect a new question, it may be reconsidered again. A 
motion to reconsider, if rejected, cannot be renewed. 

148. It cannot be moved to reconsider a motion to 
lay on the table, or to adjourn. The reason is, that 
these motions can be renewed after the proper intervals. 

In U. S. House of Rep., Feb. 4th, 1853, “ The motion to reconsider 
the vote by which the house refused to lay upon the table the bill of 
the Senate, &c., Ac. 

“Mr. Dean made the point of order, that it was not in order to 
move to reconsider a vote by which the house had refused to lay a 
measure upon the table; the motion to lay upon the table, like that 
to adjourn, being one that can be made at any time, without that 
necessity for a reconsideration which exists in other cases. 

“The Speaker stated that, while he was willing to admit that the 
weight of argument might be on the side of the gentleman from New 
York, (Mr. Dean,) the precedents were the other way, and he was not 
disposed to change the practice. He, therefore, overruled the point 
of order. 

“From this decision of the chair Mr. George W. Jones appealed, 
when Mr. David L. Seymour moved that the appeal be laid on the 
table. And the question being put on the latter motion, it was de¬ 
eded in the affirmative. So the decision of the chair was sustained.'* 

The admissions of the chair were right, and his 
ruling was wrong. It will be noticed, too, how com¬ 
mon, in the proceedings of Congress, is the illegitimate 
use of the motion to lie on the table, as applied to 
appeals from the decisions of the Speaker. Nothing au 


QUESTIONS OF ORDER. 


59 


be legitimately laid on the table excepting that which 
can, on motion, be taken up again. 

149. The motion to reconsider is applicable to all 
votes, whether affirmative or negative, on all the other 
subsidiary questions—viz.: on motions to postpone, 
to commit, to amend, and for the previous question. 
But when the order for the previous question is in 
process of execution, — e. g., when the main question is 
being taken, — it is too late to move a reconsideration. 

150. It has already been referred to (par. 88) that 
usage in Congress allows a member to move a recon¬ 
sideration, and then move immediately that his own 
motion lie on the table. This is abusive, ana should 
always be ruled as out of order. 


CHAPTER VII. 

INCIDENTAL QUESTIONS. 

151. As has been said, during proceedings on prin¬ 
cipal or on subsidiary motions, questions may arise 
incidental to those pending, which must be decided 
before them. The incidental questions are: first, ques¬ 
tions of order; second, reading of papers; third, with¬ 
drawal of a motion; and, fourth , suspension of a rule. 

SECT. I.-QUESTIONS OF ORDER. 

152. It is the duty of the presiding officer at all 
times to preserve order, and to enforce rigidly the 
rules; and any member has the right to insist upon 
such enforcement. But sometimes there is a difference 
of opinion as to the interpretation of the rule, or as to 
its application to the pending case. In that event, the 
point of order is to be raised. 

153. The manner of raising a point of order is as 



80 


INCIDENTAL QUESTIONS. 


followsA member rises, whether another has the floor 
or not, and, addressing himself to the chair, says : “Mr 
President, I rise to a point of order.” The presiding 
officer will respond : “ State it, if you please.” If any 
one has the floor, he will take his seat for the time. 
When the point is made, it will be decided by the 
chair; and, if no objection be raised, it will stand as 
the sense of the body. If any one is dissatisfied with 
the ruling of the chair, — either the one raising the 
point, or any other member, — he will say: “I beg 
leave to appeal from the decision of the chair.” The 
presiding officer will then state the point of order 
raised, and his decision on it, and then put the ques¬ 
tion : “Shall the decision of the chair stand as the sense 
of the assembly ?” The decision of the assembly, either 
sustaining or overruling the chair, will be final in the 
premises. When the point of order has been decided, 
proceedings are resumed again, commencing at the 
point at which they were interrupted, and governed by 
the principles of the decision. If one had been tem¬ 
porarily deprived of the floor, he will resume it again, 
provided the decision had not been to the effect that he 
was not entitled to it. 

154. Questions of order may be of two kinds: first , 
those that relate to general principles; and, second , 
those that have a personal bearing. As an example of 
the first may be given the question raised whether, on 
the motion to indefinitely postpone, it will be in order 
to discuss the merits of the main proposition; as an 
example of the second, the case when one raises the 
point as to whether the remarks of a member are not 
irrelevant and violative of order. In the first case, de¬ 
bate on the point of order is admissible; in the second, 
it is out of order. It is worthy of special note that all 
questions of order of a personal character, whether on 
an appeal from the decision of the chair or not, are to 
be decided without debate. 

155. On an appeal from his decisions, the presiding 
officer can participate in the debate without vacating 


REAPING PAPERS. 


61 


ihf> chair. It is out of order for any one to speak on 
the decision of a point of order unless an appeal has 
been taken from such decision. But the presiding 
of Seer may accompany his ruling, ;f so disposed, with 
a concise statement of his reasons. 

I06. A point of order takes precedence of all the 
subsidiary questions excepting the motion to lay on the 
table; and of the other incidental questions. But it 
is subordinate to all the privileged questions, viz.: to 
adjourn; questions of privilege; and orders of the 
day,—-unless it grows itself out of those privileged 
questions. 

157. It is the duty of the presiding officer to answer 
questions on points of order, when those points rise nat¬ 
urally in the progress of business; and he may give 
information, when asked, as to what motions would be 
necessary to enable members to accomplish legitimate 
objects they have in view. But he may not answer 
questions dictated by curiosity or captiousness. He is 
not to consume the time of the assembly by transform¬ 
ing himself from a presiding officer into a lecturer on 
parliamentary science. 

SECT. II. — READING PAPERS. 

158. When papers are laid before the house or re¬ 
ferred to a committee, it is the privilege of each 
member to have them read at least once before being 
compelled to vote upon them; and this is so evident 
that, when in good faith he requests the reading, it is 
usual for the chair to direct the paper to be read, 
without putting a question, if no objection be made. 
But if objected to, a question must be put. 

U. S. W R., Aug. 28th, 1852. “Pending the question on disagree¬ 
ing to the amendments of the Senate to the bill of the House No. 
196, and asking a conference with the Senate thereon, upon whioh 
the main question had been ordered to be put, Mr. Cabell called for 
the reading of the said Senate amendments. Mr. Clingman moved 
that the rules be suspended so as to enable him to move that the read¬ 
ing of said amendments be dispensed with. Mr. Ewing made the 
poiut «.f order that the said motion was not in order, on the ground 

6 


62 


INCIDENTAL QUESTIONS. 


that each member had a right to have every proposition read upo* 
which he was called to vote, and that it was not in the power of 
house to deprive him of that right. The Speaker decided that the 
said motion was in order. He admitted that a member had the right 
to have a proposition read before he could be called to vote upon it. 
This right, however, was derived from the rules ; and, by a suspen¬ 
sion of those rules, he was clearly of the opinion that he might be 
deprived of it. The propriety of suspending the rules for that pur¬ 
pose was a matter to be judged of by members in giving their 
votes. From this decision of the chair Mr. Ewing appealed ; when, 
on motion of Mr. Chastain, it was Ordered, That the appeal be laid 
on the table.” 

159. But no member has a right to have a book or 
paper read whenever he pleases ; nor even to read them 
himself from his seat. Indeed, to such an extent is this 
principle carried, that a member has strictly not the 
right to read his own written speech. All this is de¬ 
signed to prevent the waste of time. To accomplish 
his object, if objection be made, a member must move, 
and the question must be put on his motion, that the 
paper be read. 

160. A motion for reading papers is not debatable. 

SECT. III.—WITHDRAWAL OF A MOTION. 

161. As has been already said, any member who has 
made a proposition can withdraw it at any time ante¬ 
rior to a vote upon it. If, after this, he desires to 
withdraw it, he must first obtain leave to do so by vote 
of the assembly. {See par. 67.) A motion to grant leave 
to withdraw a proposition is not debatable. 

SECT. IV. — SUSPENSION OF A RULE. 

162. Whenever a proposed action is hindered by a 
rule previously adopted, it is customary, in this country, 
to remove the embarrassment by a motion to suspend 
the rule. Such a motion interrupts for the time being 
the original proposition, and must be decided first. 

163. It is customary for a rule to be adopted pre¬ 
scribing what number, exceeding a majority, shall b« 
required to suspend a rule. In some cases, a vote of 


ADJOURNMENT. 


63 


two-thirds, in others, of three-fourths, is required. 
Where no rule exists on the subject, it would seem that 
the rule can be suspended only by unanimous consent. 
A motion to suspend the rules is not debatable. 


CHAPTER VIII 
PRIVILEGED QUESTIONS. 

164. There are certain questions which, on account 
of the necessity of the proceedings to which they lead, 
are entitled to take precedence of all other questions. 
These are called privileged questions. They are: first , 
motions to adjourn; second, motions relating to the 
rights and privileges of the assembly, and of its indi¬ 
vidual members; and, third, motions for the orders of 
the day. 

SECT. I.—ADJOURNMENT. 

165. The motion to adjourn takes precedence of all 
other questions. But for this purpose, it must be a 
motion simply to adjourn. If it be made in any other 
form, as, for instance, to a particular day, or for a par¬ 
ticular time, it loses its character as a privileged ques¬ 
tion, and cannot suspend the pending proposition. This 
motion can be made at any time, provided the mover 
can legitimately obtain the floor. If carried in the 
affirmative, the pending proposition is suspended and 
interrupted; if decided in the negative, the proposition 
before the assembly is proceeded with as if no inter¬ 
ruption had occurred. 

166. The motion to adjourn, if decided in the nega¬ 
tive, cannot be renewed immediately. But if progress 
has been made in the business before the assembly — 
t. e ., if a vote has been taken or a speech made on it, 
it may be renewed. 



64 


PRIVILEGED QUESTIONS. 


167. A motion simply to adjourn is in no instance 
debatable; but if, in order, it is moved to adjourn to a 
particular day, or fora particular time, the proposition 
will admit of debate. In this form, it cannot be moved 
when anything else is pending; for, in this form, it is 
itself a principal proposition, and not a privileged 
question. 

168. When the motion in its simple form prevails, 
it adjourns the assembly to the next sitting day, or 
time in course. An adjournment sine die , or without 
day, is tantamount to a resolution of the assembly that 
it will never, by its ow T n appointment, meet again. In 
all permanently established constituent bodies, the 
members hold office until their successors are appointed; 
and, after adjournment sine die, competent authority 
may, if emergency arises, in the interval between their 
adjournment and the assembling of their successors, 
appoint an extraordinary time for their meeting, and 
summon their members to an attendance on it. But 
without such outside call by authorized parties, a vote 
to adjourn sine die is equivalent to a virtual dissolu¬ 
tion of the assembly. 

SECT. II. — MOTIONS RELATING TO THE RIGHTS AND 

PRIVILEGES OF THE ASSEMBLY, AND OF ITS INDI¬ 
VIDUAL MEMBERS. 

169. The occasion for a motion pertaining to privi¬ 
lege arises when the proceedings of the assembly are 
interrupted by disorderly conduct either on the part of 
strangers, or of its own members; when the freedom 
cf debate and proceedings is attempted to be overawed 
by mobs ; when the rights or privileges of members 
are infringed, — as, when they are attacked with force 
or violence either in the house, or on their way thither, 
and when they are obstructed in their entrance into 
the assembly; when a member is attacked in a petition 
lying on the table,— in short, anything which interferes 
with the rights and privileges of an assembly or of its 


ORDERS OF THE DAY. 65 

individual members furnishes the occasion for a motion 
pertaining to privilege. 

170. As the occasions which give rise to this motion 
may be of a most pressing character, it is evident that 
this question must be of high grade. It, in fact, super¬ 
sedes all motions excepting that to adjourn. Indeed, 
it can even compel one occupying the floor to suspend 
his remarks, and to give way as though he had been 
taken down by a point of order. 

SECT. III.—ORDERS OF THE DAY. 

171. Questions of this kind are those to which an 
assembly gives precedence by a vote previously passed. 
For instance, it is ordered that such a proposition or 
subject be made the order of the day on some desig¬ 
nated future day. The effect of such an order is to make 
that question a privileged one for that day. If, in the 
course of business, several subjects are assigned to a 
particular day, they are called orders of the day. 

172. If, therefore, on the designated day, any propo¬ 
sition is moved, excepting a question of privilege, or 
some other privileged question, entitled to precedence, 
the motion for the orders of the day will supersede 
that motion. 

173. In order though for it to have precedence, it 
must be for the orders in general, and not for a par¬ 
ticular one. If carried in the affirmative, the chair 
must take up the questions in the order in which they 
stand. 

174. On the arrival of the time set apart for a par¬ 
ticular order, the chair should call the attention of the 
assembly to the fact. For this purpose, he may even 
interrupt one in his speech. After announcing the arrival 
of the hour, he will pause to see whether a motion will 
be made to take up the order of the day, or to postpone 
* 1 . If either no motion be made, or one to proceed to 
the order of the day be negatived, the business inter¬ 
rupted will be resumed at the point at which it was 

6 * £ 


66 EIGHTS AND DUTIES OF MEMBERS. 

interrupted, and the member, if any one had been 
speaking, will proceed with his speech. A motion for 
the orders of the day must be decided without debate. 

175. If the special order is postponed because the 
assembly is unwilling to interrupt the business before 
it at that time,—should the business be disposed of 
before the expiration of the time set apart, — the order 
of the day may still be taken up and proceeded with. 
If business has been suspended by it, that business may 
be resumed again as soon as the order or orders to 
which it gave way shall have been disposed of. An 
order, by any means postponed, may be assigned to 
another day. 

176. A motion to adjourn, and a question of privi¬ 
lege, take precedence of a motion for the orders of the 
day ; but it supersedes all the subsidiary and inciden¬ 
tal questions, excepting such incidental questions, if 
any, as may grow out of it. And all such incidental 
questions, like the motion itself, are to be settled with¬ 
out debate. 


CHAPTER IX. 

RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF MEMBERS. 

177. It is the right of each member to introduce and 
advocate any proposition in order. This is based upon 
the entire equality among members. 

178. It is the duty of members to grant to all theii 
associates their rights ; to treat them with courtesy and 
respect; and to refrain from all things which will in¬ 
terrupt and annoy them while they remain in order. 

179. They should maintain the deportment of gentle¬ 
men, and do nothing to disturb the order and decorum 
of the assembly, not only while a debate is in progress, 
but also when no one occupies the floor. They should 
refrain from entering into* the house with their hats on; 



RIGHTS AND DUTIES OP MEMBERS. 67 

from moving from place to place, and gathering into 
knots, or standing at their seats or in the aisles ; from 
engaging in conversation; from passing between the 
chair and the member occupying the floor; from going 
to the table, writing there, or meddling with the books 
or papers on it. In short, they should refrain from 
anything tending to confusion or to disrespectful or 
disorderly interruption. 

180. Any member has the right to insist that order 
should be prese^ed, or that the rule 3 should be en¬ 
forced. For this end, he has the right to raise the 
point of order before the chair, interrupting, if neces¬ 
sary, the member alleged to be out of order. But in 
these interruptions his tone and manner should be 
marked with the highest courtesy towards the one in¬ 
terrupted and complained of. The one complaining of 
disorder is himself disorderly if his manner naturally 
tends to irritation. 

< 181. When a member persists in a course pronounced 
disorderly by the presiding officer, it is customary for 
that officer to complain to the assembly by “ naming ” 
the offender. That is, he declares to the assembly that 
such a one, mentioning the individual by name, is 
guilty of disorderly conduct. This is equivalent to the 
arraignment of the individual. He is then to be heard 
in defence or extenuation of his conduct and to with¬ 
draw. After he retires, the presiding officer states the 
offence committed, and the assembly proceeds to inflict 
a punishment adequate to the offence. 



ON DEBATE. 


M 


CHAPTER X. 

ON DEBATE. 

182. In order to engage in debate, one raisl first 
obtain the floor in the manner already explained in 
paragraph 56. When he has once obtained it, he can¬ 
not be deprived of it so long as he does not violate 
order: provided the topic he is discussing does not 
cease to be in order by the lapse of time, and provided 
no sudden and pressing emergency occurs which de¬ 
mands immediatelv the consideration of a question of 
privilege. (Par. 169.) 

183. In debate, the member must confine himself 
strictly to the subject before the assembly; otherwise 
he is liable to be interrupted by the presiding officer 
or by another member rising to a point of order. The 
course of a member in debate, though, should be con¬ 
strued in the most liberal manner. He may for the 
time seem to be wandering from the point before the 
house; but his course may be consistent with a legiti¬ 
mate plan of discussion marked out for himself; and 
he may return from the apparent digression with 
accumulated force. What may appear a digression to 
some minds and irrelevant, may to others seem consist¬ 
ent ; and, if uninterrupted, they may make it appear to 
all ultimately that it was legitimate and illustrative. 
Nor should one be interrupted because to others he 
may seem to be violating judgment and good taste, 
laste and judgment are not to be dragged into the 
domains of order. The presiding officer and the 
assembly should bear patiently with one occupying 
the flpor, and refrain from interrupting him until his 
irrelevancy is made glaringly apparent. Better bear 
patiently a slight wandering from the subject than 


ON DEBATE. 


69 


that the freedom of debate should be abridge^ ot 
minas.be prevented from exhibiting themselves, in 
order, in their characteristic ways. 

184. Personalities in debate are always out of order. 
It may, however, sometimes be allowed to answer the 
man as well as the argument; and a member may be 
severe, provided he be parliamentary too. But severity 
may never be indulged by tho application of epitheta, 
or by the imputation of unworthy motives. It is always 
more, dignified, however, to waive the right to use 
severity, and to confine remarks exclusively to the 
merits of the question. 

185. It is out of order for any one to reflect upon 
any previous action of the assembly, unless he designs 
to close by moving to reconsider, repeal, or rescind it. 
But, while a proposition is still under consideration, to 
reflect on it is not to reflect on the assembly. 

. 186. The one occupying the floor should address 
himself not to the assembly but to the presiding officer. 
He should refer to no one by name; but designate him 
by one of some such phrases as these: the gentleman 
(or brother) who last spoke; or the last but one ; or the 
gentleman to my right, or to my left; or the mover of 

the proposition; or the gentleman from-, etc. This 

is necessary in order that all occasion for irritation 
may be avoided. 

187. It is a rule in Congress that no one shall speak 
more than once to the same question. In all assem¬ 
blies where no rule exists on the subject, members may 
speak twice. This refers, though, only to principal 
and subsidiary motions that are debatable. On ques¬ 
tions of order open to discussion, it is admissible to 
speak but once. But a member having already spoken 
twice may speak again to explain, provided he con 
fines himself exclusively to the explanation. But h«. 
must not interrupt one occupying the floor, to explain. 
When an amendment has been proposed, one who has 
already spoken to the main proposition may occupy 
the floor again on the same terms on which he spoka 
W» the original proposition. 


TO 


ON DEBATE. 


188. An assembly should respectfully listen to on€ 
who, in good faith, addresses them in his own way. 
But no one has a right to fatigue them with a long and 
dry and tedious harangue. He should recognize with 
great respect the signs of fatigue and impatience ex¬ 
hibited by the members; for he may assume that their 
instinctive politeness would not be intermitted unless 
some excuse is found in his own course. In this case, 
he had better waive his right than to unavailingly 
address his remarks to unwilling ears. 

189. When a member appears to speak irrelevantly 
or otherwise out of order, it is the duty of the presiding 
officer to interrupt him, and any other member may uo 
the same. In the latter event, the member will rise, 
and, addressing himself to the presiding officer, will 
say, “ I rise to a point of order.” When requested by 
the chair to state it, he will specify the thing he objects 
to. If the chair rules that the member is out of order 
in his remarks, and no appeal is taken from the deci¬ 
sion, he will abandon the line of remark condemned, 
and, if permitted, proceed in order. Should an appeal 
be taken, it will be decided without debate. The 
reason is that the question of order is personal, and 
remarks are liable to produce irritation. When the 
irrelevant speaking is personally offensive, and thus 
tends to irritation and disorder, it is the duty of the 
presiding officer to interrupt immediately; but when 
it is mere irrelevancy, without personality or offensive¬ 
ness, it is right for him to be passive until exception be 
taken first by some one on the floor. It is better for 
him, in thi3 connection, to be too lenient than to appear 
to embarrass the freedom of debate. Members some¬ 
times interrupt, not to take exception in the matter of 
order, but to interrogate the one speaking. This has 
grown into quite a usage in Congress; and the presiding 
officer is passive while the one interrupting tries to con¬ 
fuse the one speaking, or to draw him off from the topic 
he is discussing. True, the one occupying the floor can 
refuse to be interrupted, and the chair always sustains 


OK DEBATE. 


71 


him in such refusal; but the public opinion of the house 
requires that he should not thus apparently show a lack 
of courage. In this way members may be intimidated 
and virtually deprived of their privilege to debate; and 
the practice sometimes furnishes occasion for painful 
and disreputable scenes. It would be better for the 
chair to permit only such questions to be put as are 
clearly designed to elicit information, and to rule as out 
of order those that are argumentative, and such as are 
intended to embarrass and confuse. Timid and sensitive 
members are entitled to the protection of the chair while 
they attempt to exercise their right to debate. Besides, 
the dignity and order of the house are imperiled by in¬ 
terruptions of the kind. When, in this connection, dis¬ 
orders occur, especially in such bodies as are formed 
of opposing political parties,—as e. g. Congress and Leg¬ 
islatures,—the presiding officer is well nigh powerless to 
rescue the house from confusion; for, being the repre¬ 
sentative of one of the parties, he is always liable to be 
suspected of throwing his official influence in favor of his 
party friend. 

190. A proposition that can be discussed is open to 
debate up to the time when the negative is put to the 
vote. Consequently, after the vote has been taken in 
the affirmative, and after the vote has been announced 
conditionally by the chair, if a division be called for, 
members may obtain the floor, and debate may be re¬ 
sumed again, as though no vote had been taken. 

In this case, not only may debate be resumed, but all 
subsidiary and incidental motions are in order that were 
pertinent up to the taking of the vote. 

191. It has been said that the presiding officer had 
better refrain from participating in debate. But should 
he rise to do so, he should have precedence. The member 
rising to the floor should give way when the presiding 
officer indicates a desire to address the assembly. This 
does not mean, though, that he has the right to dis¬ 
place one already engaged in addressing the house. 

192. The previous question is designed chiefly to 


72 


ON DEBATE. 


suppress proposiiions; — in England, principal prop, 
ositions; in this country, subsidiary. It also stops 
debate incidentally. Another way of putting a ter¬ 
mination to discussion is for the assembly to have come 
to a decision in advance that, at such a time, the vote 
shall be taken on the pending measure. Should such 
a motion be made as incidental, while the. subject is 
under consideration, it must be voted upon without 
discussion. 

193. Another way of shortening the time of the 
discussion is to adopt a rule that no speech shall be 
made longer than a specified number of minutes. This 
may be made in advance as a principal motion, or it 
may be made an incidental question. In each case, it 
is to be taken without debate; on the general principle 
that any proposition designed to prevent the consump¬ 
tion of time, does not itself admit of the consumption 
of time. 

194. It is customary in legislative bodies to hold 
members accountable for the use of disorderly words, 
personally offensive to a member or reflecting on the 
assembly, in the following manner: The member 
offended, or any one else, rises promptly and interrupts 
the member speaking. He is then called upon by the 
presiding officer to repeat the words of which he com¬ 
plains, that they may be reduced to writing by the 
clerk ; or the member complaining may proceed to 
state the words, either verbally or in writing, without 
waiting for an invitation from the chair, and request 
the clerk to take them down. The presiding officer, 
unless he considers the objection a trivial one, may in¬ 
struct the clerk to reduce them to writing; and may 
do so anyhow, if the members in general seem to 
sympathize with the complainant. 

195. The words thus written down betome a part of 
the clerk’s minutes. They are to be real to the mem¬ 
ber who was speaking. If he denies having used them, 
the assembly must decide whether they were his words 
or not. If he admits that they were his word3, oi if 


OR COMMITTEES. 


13 


they have been so declared by the assembly, he is then 
to justify them or explain them so as to remove their 
disorderly appearance, or he may apologize for them. 

196. If the justification, explanation, or apology, is 
not deemed satisfactory, and any two members desire 
to take the sense of the assembly on the words, and on 
the member’s response to the complaint against them, 
the member must withdraw before the question is 
stated; and the sense of the assembly must be taken, 
and such further proceedings had in relation to the 
punishment of the member as may seem necessary and 
proper. 

197. The offensive words must be taken down im¬ 
mediately after they are uttered. If the member be 
permitted to finish his speech, or any other matter 
intervenes, it will be too late to hold him responsible 
and to proceed against him in the manner designated 
above. 


CHAPTER XI. 

ON COMMITTEES. 

198. Committees are small bodies of members ap¬ 
pointed by the assembly to obtain information, to di» 
gest and put resolutions or bills in a form suitable to 
come before the house, and, in short, to do for the as¬ 
sembly that which, because of its formalities and its 
size, it could not conveniently do for itself. There is 
however a kind of committee called, “ of the whole,” 
composed not of a few persons appointed, but of all the 
members of the assembly. 

199. Committees are of two kinds—standing, and 
special or select. A standing committee is one pro¬ 
vided for by a special rule ; and, in permanently es¬ 
tablished bodies, is appointed, as a matter of course, 
every session. A select committee is one raised by ape* 

7 



T4 


ON COMMITTEES. 


cial vote to consider and report upon some specific 
thing that rises as business progresses. 

SECT. I. — MANNER OF APPOINTMENT. 

200. Committees are appointed sometimes by ballot, 
as in the senate of the U. S.; sometimes by vote, on 
a question, where each name is voted on separately ; 
and sometimes by designation of the chair. Where 
there is no rule or usage on the subject, the presiding 
officer designates the members of committees. It is in 
order though, and not uncommon, for the member who 
proposes the appointment of a committee to present a 
list of names, and move that they be a committee to 
consider and report upon the matter referred to them. 

201. All the members of an assembly are eligible to 
appointment on committees. But it is not proper, in 
the case where a bill or other paper is to be referred, 
that those should be appointed who have expressed 
themselves as opposed to the body of the proposition; 
because he would not amend who would totally destroy. 
And if any one thus opposed hears himself named as 
on the committee, he should frankly state this objec¬ 
tion to his eligibility. Those however who take ex¬ 
ception to some of the details of the measure are 
suitable for membership in the committee. This rule 
relates exclusively to the case in which the committee 
are not to consider the general merits of a proposition, 
but only the amendment of it in its particulars so as 
to make it acceptable to the assembly. 

202. When a committee has been ordered, the first 
thing to be decided is the number of which it shall be 
composed—provided there is no rule or usage fixing 
the number for all committees. This is effected in the 
manner employed in filling blanks. The chair will 
enquire, “ Of what number shall the committee con¬ 
sist ? ’ Members will propose numbers without the 
formality of motions. These wul then be put to the 
question, beginning with the largest number proposed. 


MANNER OF PROCEEDING. 


15 


and proceeding down towards the smallest, until one 
of the proposed numbers obtains a majority. The 
member who moves the appointment of a committee i 3 
always appointed on it, on the principle that he is ac¬ 
quainted with the matter, and interested in it. He is 
named first on the committee; and is by courtesy its 
chairman. But it is competent for the committee, if 
they are so disposed, to elect their own chairman. 

203. In theory, the majority of the committee should 
be of the friends of the measure referred. In legisla¬ 
tive bodies in this country, this principle is applied in 
making the majority to consist of the friends of the 
political party in the ascendant. This is frequently 
perverted, and carried to reprehensible extremes, when 
the minority is made very small, or composed of mem¬ 
bers so intellectually inferior as to exercise little or no 
influence on the proceedings of the committee. 

204. The secretary should make out a list of the 
committee and place it in the hands of the first named 
on the list, together with the paper, if any, referred 
to them. 


SECT. II. — MANNER OF PROCEEDING. 

205. Nothing can be considered as the action of a 
committee excepting what has been agreed to by its 
members actually assembled. The members cannot act 
by separate consultation and consent. A majority of 
a committee constitutes a quorum for business. 

206. Unless the assembly appoint a time and place 
for the committee to meet, it may control these ques¬ 
tions for itself. The first on the list, acting as chair¬ 
man, will call the members together at a time and 
place designated by himself; and then, by question and 
vote, they can adjourn and meet as do other delibera¬ 
tive bodies. But as the members of the committee are 
also members of the body, they cannot hold their meet¬ 
ings at the times of its sessions, excepting after special 
leave first obtained. 

207. As a committee is a miniature assembly, th* 


ON COMMITTEES. 


76 

course of proceeding is in the main similar to that in 
the assembly itself. The paper before it, is first read 
by the chairman as a whole; then it is to be read 
again paragraph by paragraph—the chairman paus¬ 
ing at the end of each to see if any amendments may 
be proposed. In the assembly, it is not allowable to 
revert to a paragraph after a subsequent one has been 
read or amended; but in so small a body as a com¬ 
mittee, such strictness seems not to be necessary. 

208. If the paper before a committee be one that 
originated with itself, it may be proceeded with in the 
manner pointed out in the last paragraph. Questions 
are to be put on the amendments proposed to each par¬ 
agraph, but not oil agreeing to the several paragraphs. 
When the whole is gone through with, a question is to 
be taken on agreeing to the whole paper amended or 
unamended. But if the paper is one which has been 

-referred to it, amendments may be proposed and votes 
taken on them ; but no vote is to be taken on agreeing 
to the paper as a whole; because the assembly has al¬ 
ready passed upon it in some degree, and accepted it 
as the basis of its action. If, therefore, the committee 
are opposed to the whole paper, whatever shape it may 
be made to assume, they cannot reject it. The most 
that they can do is to report it back to the assembly 
without amendment, and there make their opposition 
to it. 

209. In the case of resolutions on distinct subjects 
originating with themselves, a question is put on each 
separately, amended or unamended; and no final ques¬ 
tion on the whole. But if they relate to the same sub¬ 
ject, a question is put also on the whole. 

210. When a committee has completed its labors, a 
member moves that the committee rise, and that the 
chairman report results to the assembly. 


THEIR REPORT. 


II 


SECT. III.-THEIR REPORT. 

211. When a suitable time arrives, the chairman 
obtains the floor, and says, “Mr. President, The com¬ 
mittee to whom was referred ” (such a subject or paper) 
“ are prepared to report.” Or in the pause of business, 
or in accordance with the order of business, the presid¬ 
ing officer will say, “ Is the committee on,” &c., or, “ to 
whom was referred,” &c., “prepared to report?” The 
chairman will reply, “ Prepared,” or “ Ready.” The 
presiding officer will respond, “ Let the report be re¬ 
ceived.” If no objection be made to its reception, the 
chairman will proceed to read the report, and, having 
done so, will hand it up to the clerk’s table. 

212. A motion for the reception of a report is un¬ 
necessary, unless objection be made to its consideration 
at that time. If objection be raised, a motion must be 
made and a question put on its reception. Sometimes, 
w T hen the chairman announces that the committee i3 
prepared to present the report whenever the assem¬ 
bly may be ready to receive it, that readiness may be 
shown, without a formal motion, by the members cry¬ 
ing out, “ Now! now! ” &c.; or, better still, the chair may 
assume, from his knowledge of the case, that the as¬ 
sembly is ready for its reception, and may officially an¬ 
nounce, “ Let the report be received.” If, however, he 
may have misjudged the wishes of the house, and any 
one dissents, he must retrace his steps, and demand 
that a motion be made on the question of its reception. 
Of course, after the report has been read, it would be 
out of order and superfluous to move to receive it; as 
it could not have been read until it had been in the 
possession of the house. And how could the assembly 
with propriety vote to receive that which it has already 
in fact received, and partially acted on ? After the 
reading of the report, the only pertinent motion is one 
to adopt it, or otherwise properly dispose of it. 

213. Should a motion be made to adopt, as has been 
already observed, the presiding officer should read the 

7* 


T8 


ON COMMITTEES. 


report, or cause it to be read, paragraph by paragraph, 
pausing at the close of each to afford members an op¬ 
portunity to propose amendments; and after all the 
paragraphs have been read, he should put the question 
on the adoption of the whole, amended or unamended. 
Should the report consist of a series of resolutions on 
distinct subjects, he may put the question on each and 
not on all; because that would be in effect taking the 
vote on the same subject twice. Should the resolutions 
be on the same subject, the question is to be put on the 
whole also. Should there be a preamble to the res¬ 
olutions, it is not to be considered and amended until 
after the final vote on the resolutions ; for the reason 
that amendment may so change them as to require a 
corresponding change in the preamble. 

214. The report, in its arguments and its phraseology, 
is as liable to amendment by the assembly as are its 
resolutions. When adopted by the house, it becomes 
the action of the house; and should in all its parts 
represent the sentiments and the taste of the house. If 
it may alter the resolution offered by a member to 
make it suit itself, why may it not do the same to the 
report of its committee ? This is not the universal usage 
in deliberative bodies; but it ought to be. 

215. In the case of a paper referred,—not that its 
general merits may be considered by the committee, 
but only that amendments may be made to its par¬ 
ticulars,— the paper is not to be erased or interlined, 
but amendments proposed by the committee are to be 
written on another sheet. When the report is pre¬ 
sented, the chairman reads the proposed amendments, 
“ with the coherents in the paper,” giving at the same 
time the reasons of the committee. When a motion is 
made to agree to the report of the committee, the pre¬ 
siding officer puts questions on motions to amend the 
committee’s amendments, if any are proposed, and, 
finally, on the adoption of the paper, amended or un¬ 
amended. 

216. When the report is received, the committee ia 


COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE. 


70 


thereby discharged. But it may be revived again, and 
the same matter recommitted to it. Should the report 
of a committee not be received, it does not become for 
that reason discharged ; but it may be ordered to sit 
again, and consider the same matter. When a subject 
is referred to a committee, with instructions, those in¬ 
structions must be carried literally into effect. But a 
committee may be discharged, and the subject recom¬ 
mitted to another committee. In this case, what has 
been passed is of no force, and the subject may be 
treated as if committed for the first time 

217. If the minority of a committee desire to do so, 
it is admissible for them to present what is called a 
minority report. In this case, when the report of the 
majority is read, one of them should move that the 
report lie on the table, to furnish the minority an op¬ 
portunity to present their report. If he has it pre¬ 
pared, he should read it. If it is not yet finished, he 
should state that fact, and move that the report be 
postponed to a short time in advance, in order to allow 
the minority to get their report ready. If these mo¬ 
tions to defer prevail, as they always should, when both 
reports are before the assembly, it may adopt one or 
the other, according as it may meet its views. 

SECT. IV. — COMMITTEE OP THE WHOLE. 

218. The Committee of the Whole, as its name im¬ 
ports, is composed of all the members of the assembly, 
and its design is to secure for propositions more ex¬ 
tended and detailed examination and discussion than 
can with certainty be secured under the rules and 
formalities of the assembly. In committee of the whole, 
members may speak as often as they can obtain the 
floor, and the previous question is inadmissible. 

219. Besides the two particulars above, the assem¬ 
bly, in the form of the committee of the whole, differs 
from the assembly proper in four other particulars, as 
follows: (1) It cannot adjourn. When it completes 


80 


ON COMMITrliiSb. 


its business, it must rise apd report to the house. (2) 
It cannot refer subjects to other committees. In this 
it differs from ordinary committees also; for they can 
raise sub-committees and refer subjects to them. (3) 
The presiding officer of the assembly can, in committee 
of the whole, take part in the proceedings as though he 
were a private member. (4) A committee of the 
whole cannot punish disorderly conduct, but must re¬ 
port it to the house for its animadversion. In other 
respects, the forms of proceeding are the same in com¬ 
mittee of the whole as in the assembly proper. 

220. The following is the manner of proceeding in 

resolving the assembly into committee. A member 
moves that the house now resolve itself into committee 
of the whole to take into consideration such a subject. 
If the motion prevails, the presiding officer calls some 
one to the chair, and takes his seat among the mem¬ 
bers. The chairman thus designated will take the 
president’s seat,* and say: “ The committee of the 
whole have referred to them the resolution, &c. relat¬ 
ing to--. Let it be read.” After it has been 

read, he will say: “ The resolution, &c. is before the 
oommittee.” This makes it in order for discussion and 
other proceedings on it to commence. The assembly 
can itself appoint the chairman, if it so desires. 

221. The quorum is the same as the quorum in the 
assembly, and is just as necessary in the one case as 
the other. Whenever it is discovered that a quorum 
is not present, the committee must immediately rise, 
and the fact must be reported to the assembly. 

222. When the committee have gone through with 
the resolution or business, by motion and question, it 
will rise, and the chairman will be instructed to report 
to the assembly. The president of the assembly will 
resume the chair, and the chairman of the committee 
landing up at his own seat, or taking his position at a 
more convenient place, will say: “ Mr. President, The 


* Jefferson says he will Bit at the clerk's table. 



COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE. 81 

committee of the whole have had under consideration,” 
(mentioning what,) “ and have instructed me to report 
the same,” (with certain amendments, naming them, 
or,) “ without amendments,”—or,—“ negatived.” The 
president will repeat this report, and present it for the 
consideration and action of the assembly. Should tho 
proposition or resolution have been negatived by the 
committee, the presiding officer will put the question : 
“ Will the house agree to the report of the committee? ” 

223. Should the committee not have completed the 
business before it rises, the chairman will report pro¬ 
gress and ask leave to sit again. If leave be granted, 
the assembly will name a time when it will again go 
into committee on that subject. If leave be refused, 
the effect is to bring up the subject immediately before 
the assembly. 

224. Amendments proposed by the committee may 
be amended or rejected by the assembly, and matters 
stricken out by the committee may be restored by the 
assembly. 

225. The secretary of the assembly is required to 
record only the report of the committee of the whole. 

I 


APPENDIX. 

OF THE YEAS AND NAYS. 

226. The mode of taking the question by yei*3 and 
nays is of American origin, and is in principle limited 
to American legislative bodies. The only design of it 
is to hold members accountable to their constituents. 
It is doubtful, therefore, whether it legitimately holds 
a place in assemblies not legislative. Certain it is that 
it is inexpedient to call for the yeas and nays in reli¬ 
gious bodies. In many cases it would tend to perpetuate 
divisions that would otherwise be but temporary. 

227. When the question is taken in this way, it is 
stated on both sides at once, in some such way as this: 
“Those in favor of the proposition will, when their 
names are called, answer yes; those opposed will, when 
their names are called, answer no.” The clerk then 
calls the roll, and notes each man’s answer in connec¬ 
tion with his name. When the roll is gone through 
with, he will read over first the names in the affirma¬ 
tive, and then those in the negative, that errors, if any, 
may be corrected. The number then on each side is 
reported to the presiding officer, and by him announced 
to the assembly; and the result is declared. 

228. As has been already said, in all such cases 
where the question is put first on one side and then on 
the other, it is allowable for members to obtain the 
floor and debate the proposition, even after the affirma¬ 
tive vote has been given, and up to the time when the 
negative side of the question is put. But in the case 
of the yeas and nays, where the affirmative and nega¬ 
tive vote proceed pari passu , it is out of order to renetf 
the debate after thG first vote has been given. 

( 82 ) 


OF THE YEAS AND NAYS. 


83 


229. Every member is under obligation to vote 
unless excused by the assembly. No member, after 
the yeas and nays have been called, is permitted to 
change his vote unless he asserts that he voted by mis¬ 
take. This is the general rule; but in some of our 
legislative bodies, members are permitted to change 
their votes, even after the business is disposed of; pro¬ 
vided such change does not affect the general result. 
No one is permitted to vote after the result is declared 
by the chair. Finally, no one can call for the yeas 
and nays on a particular vote after business has pro¬ 
gressed beyond the point of that vote. 

United States House of Representatives, Jan. 23, 1852. “Mr. 
Daniel moved that the house resolve itself into a committee of the 
whole for the consideration of private bills. And the question being 
put on the latter motion, it was decided in the negative. The Speaker 
had announced the result of the last vote, and was in the act of put¬ 
ting the question on the motion submitted by Mr. Houston, when Mr. 
Cabell demanded the yeas and nays on the motion submitted by Mr. 
Daniel. The Speaker decided that the demand came too late, as the 
motion had passed from before the house. From this decision of the 
chair Mr. Cabell appealed." The decision of the chair was sustained. 

Same session, Aug. 28. “Mr. G. W. Jones arose and asked that 
his name might be recorded upon the several yea and nay votes taken 
while he was absent upon the Committee of Conference. Objection 
being made thereto, the Speaker decided that it was not competent, 
under the rules, for the gentleman to have his name recorded. From 
this decision of the chair Mr. G. W. Jones appealed; when, on motion 
of Mr. Stanley, it was Ordered, that the appeal be laid on the table. 
So the decision of the chair was sustained." 

230. The number of members competent to de¬ 
mand that a question be taken by yeas and nays is 
decided for Congress and for State Legislatures by 
constitutional provision. In the constitution of the 
United States the number is one-fifth. Some of the 
State constitutions give this power to one-fifth ; 
some, to three members ; some, to two ; and some, 
to one. In all deliberative bodies, whose constitu¬ 
tion or whose rules prescribe nothing on the subject, 
the yeas and nays can be ordered only by the major¬ 
ity, ascertained by motion, question, and vote. 


84 


TROTESTS. 


PROTESTS. 


231. All the legislative assemblies in this country 
admit the right of their members to protest against 
any measure, and to enter their reasons therefor 
upon the journal. In some of the States, this right 
is expressly secured and regulated by constitutional 
provision. Some grant it to two members, and some 
even to one. But in all deliberative assemblies that 
have no rule or constitutional provision on the sub¬ 
ject, members can enter their protests on the min¬ 
utes only by the consent of a majority, ascertained 
by motion, question, and vote. 




INDEX 


ADJOURNMENT takes precedence of all other motions, . 
if decided in negative, when it can be renewed, 

in what form it is debatable,. 

the effect of the vote simply to adjourn, and to adjourn 

sine die , respectively,. 

AMENDMENT, three ways to amend, .... 
how to proceed when propositions consist of several 

paragraphs, etc.,. 

enemies by it may change the meaning of propositions, 
chair may not rule out on the ground of inconsistency, 

amendment to amendment,. 

when amendment is pending, motions to amend must 

be limited to it,. 

effect of motion to strike words out of amendment, . 
when words are out of reach of further amendment, . 
when, however, the same words may be struck out, . 
mode of proceeding in striking out or inserting, 

third form of amending,. 

the amendments that can be made after the motion to 
strike out and insert has been lost, 
effect of a refusal to strike out a paragraph, 
effect of a failure of motion to substitute, . 
mode of proceeding on a motion to strike out and insert, 
correction of minutes,. 

APPEALS, how to be made, . . . • _ 

on appeals the presiding officer can take part in debate, 
out of order to speak without appeal, 
in debating, members speak but once, 
manner in which the appeal is stated by the chair, . 
BLANKS, filling of, with times or numbers, rule for,' 140, 
COMMITTEES, definition and design of, . 

different kinds of, standing and select, . . 

manner of appointing, . . . • 

usually those favorable to the body of a proposition to 
be appointed on, ... . • • 

8 C 86 ) 


183 

166 

167 

168 

118 

119 

120 

121 

122 

123 

124 

125 

126 

127 

128 

129 

130 

131 

133 

134 

153 

155 

155 

187 

153 

141 

198 

199 

200 

201 



86 


INDEX, 


COMMITTEES ( continued ). 

the number of members, how ascertained, and how 

voted on,. 

first named to be the mover, and, by courtesy, the 

chairman,. 

the majority of the committee, composed of whom, . 
how notified of their appointment, .... 
committee cannot act without a quorum, . 
time and place for committee to meet, . . 

manner of proceeding in, . 

how to proceed if the paper has originated with it, 
and how if it has been referred, .... 

in the case of resolutions, ...... 

when the committee has completed its labors, . 

their report, how presented,. 

‘‘reception” of report, ...... 

when motion is made to adopt,. 

report liable to amendment,. 

paper referred,. 208, 

after discharged, may be revived, .... 
what, in the case of instructions, and what, when the 
subject is referred to a new committee, . 
minority report, how to proceed, .... 
committee of the whole, how constituted, and the 

design of it,. 

particulars in which it differs from the assembly 
proper, and from other committees, . . 218, 

manner of proceeding in resolving into committee of 

the whole,. 

quorum same as in assembly,. 

when committee have gone through with business, . 
when the business has not been completed, how, 

the secretary to record what,. 

COMMITMENT, when to be made,. 

when there are two motions, one to refer to a standing 
and another to a select committee, the question to 

be put on the former first,.115 

on motion to refer, the merits of the question not to 

be discussed,.110 

commitment of same grade as postponement and pre¬ 
vious question,.117 

CBEDENTIALS, necessary, 14 

in legislative bodies, how ascertained, . .15 

in the case of occasional constituent bodies, . . 16 

principle applicable to religious constituent assem¬ 
blies, . . . . 17 

convenient mode of inquiring into, . . . .18 


202 

202 

203 

204 

205 

206 

207 

208 
200 
210 
211 
212 

213 

214 

215 

216 

216 

217 

218 

219 

220 
221 
222 
223 
225 
114 





INDEX. 


81 


DEBATE what is necessary to engage in, . . .182 

must be confined to the subject, .... 183 

personalities in, out of order,.184 

reflection upon the previous action of the assembly 

out of order,.185 

the one debating should address the chair, . .186 

number of times one can speak, .... 187 
how the assembly should treat the one engaged in, . 188 
up to what point propositions are liable to debate, . 130 
when a member speaks out of order, what, . .189 

when the presiding officer rises to engage in, . .191 

ways of putting termination to, ... 192, 193 
DELIBERATIVE BODIES, definition of, . . . . 1 

different kinds of.2 

permanently established, two kinds, . . . 3, I., II. 

occasional bodies, two kinds, . . . . 4, I., II. 

those not strictly deliberative,.5 


DISORDERLY WORDS, how to proceed when spoken, . 194 
written down by the clerk, and thus become a part of 

his minutes,.194, 195 

what required of the member using the words, . . 195 

further proceedings of the assembly on them, . .196 

the offensive words to be taken down as soon as uttered, 197 
DIVISION OF A QUESTION, when it can take place, . 135 
not to be ordered on the demand of one member, . 136 

a proposition divided becomes a series of, . . . 137 

FLOOR, how to obtain,. . 56 

if two or more rise about the same time, . . .57 

intimations to the chair in advance, out of order, . 58 

member cannot, in general, be deprived of, while in 

order; exceptions,.59 

how, when members permit others to interrupt them, 6C 
chair may permit one to interrupt who rises to a point 

of order.61 

GENERAL PARLIAMENTARY LAW, definition of, .34 
distinction between it and the rules of proceeding in 

the English Parliament,.35 

specifically, what is meant by it, . . . . 36 

difference between the English and the American gen¬ 
eral code, . ..37 

manual based on American code, . . . .38 

INCIDENTAL QUESTIONS, occasions for, ... 78 

what are they?.80, II., 151 

questions of order , and the manner of raising them, 152, 153 
two kinds of questions of order; personal ones not 
debatable, 154 





83 


INDEX. 


INCH ENTAL QUESTIONS ( continued ). 

piecedenco of points of order, and their subordination, 166 
when the duty of the chair to answer questions on, . 167 

reading papers, .158, 159 

withdrawal of a motion, . 67,161 

tuijtension of a rule, . 162 * 1 G 3 

LIE ON THE TABLE, occasion on which, moved, . . 77 

its grade compared with other questions, . . ,84 

effect of its decision affirmatively, 85 ; and negatively, 

86 ; when can be renewed,.86 

when in order to move to take from table, . . .87 

the proper use, and when used abusively, . . .88 

not debatable, etc.,. 89 

MAJORITY, decision,.[33 

necessary in the election of officers, . . . * 39 

a tie vote,. 00 

MOTION, defined, ....... 53^ 52 

must be seconded; exception, . . , , . * 68 

when to be in writing,.. 

must not be substantially the same, or inconsistent 
with one already acted upon, . . . . .65 

only one motion can be made at a time; violation by 

Congress,. .60 

when can be withdrawn by mover, . . . .67 

a main motion displaced by those called privileged, ! 68 

NAMING a member, what,.181 

OFFICERS of a deliberative body, titles of, . .6 

must be elected by a majority, . . , # * 39 

ORDER, what is it,. 81 64 

ORDERS OF THE DAY, what are they, . . .171 

their precedence,. .172 

to secure this precedence, what is necessary, . .173 

when the time arrives what the chair should do, *. 174 
it the order is postponed, what, . . . .175 

adjournment and a question of privilege take prece¬ 
dence of,. 270 

ORGANIZATION, definition, ...... 7 

how permanently established are organized. * ! 8 

how legislative bodies,.. 

what churches permanently organized, . . *13 

how, in the case of associations and conventions, . i t 
occasional assemblies, how, 12 ; if more carefully, how’ 13 
PARLIAMENTARY RULES, what, and whence derived 27-29 

POSTPONEM ENT, occasions for it,.. 

I wo forms of motion to effect temporarily, . , .88 


INDEX. 


81 


POSTPONEMENT {continued). 

to a '‘-ime definite subordinate to lie on table, • . 96 

effect, decided affirmatively or negatively, . • .91 

susceptible of amendment, the manner, . • .92 

no debate on the main question, . . • .93 

used abusively, and how to be treated, . . .94 

postponement indefinite , design cf it, and its grade, . . 109 

opens the whole merits of the question to discussion, 110 
cannot be amended, ....... HI 

effect of it if it prevails,.112 

appendage to a main question not to be postponed by 
itself, but it may be with its principal, . . . 113 

PREAMBLE, usually voted on and amended last, . 119, 213 

PRESIDING OFFICER, who should not accept, . . 40 

dignity of the body dependent on, ... 
characteristics necessary to, .... 

should acknowledge the equality of the members, 
should not engage in debate nor indicate opinions, 
excepting on order, ...... 

principles applied to pastor of a church, ... 
duties in general, ...••*• 

PREVIOUS QUESTION, occasion for it, . . . 77, 95 

discrimination necessary for an idea of; three inter- 

. .96 

97-108 
97-99 
. 99 
. 100 
. 101 
102 


41 

42 

43 

44 

45 

46 


pretations of it, 

previous question under the American code, 
why called previous question, . • 

another question still previous to it, . . . 

its supremacy and its subordinations, • . 

not debatable, and the effect of it, • • • • 

what is the main question,._ 

the use of the previous question under the American 

cede,.. . . 

example of its practical working, . . • . 

perversions of it by Congress, . . . . . 

not admissible when minutes are to be corrected, 
incidental questions, while it is pending to be decided 
without debate, 


103 

104 

105 

107 

108 


79, 80, 164 
. 165-168 
. 169, 170 
. 171-176 


PRIVILEGED QUESTIONS, occasions for them, 
adjournment, ...... 

questions of privilege, .... 

orders of the day,. 

PROCEEDING, MANNER OF, how topics are brought to 

the notice of an assembly, . • • • .51 

forms or instruments used,.52 

motion ^rder, resolution, , . • • . 53, 64 

8* 


90 


INDEX. 


QUESTION, definition of,. . , 

usual method cf stating it,. 

how decided when put to the vote, . 
division can be called for by one member; how stated 
by the chair, when called for, . . . 

who can act as tellers,. 

method of counting when the assembly is large, and 

when it is small,. 

questions of order while a division is in progiess to be 
decided peremptorily, ...... 

See Subsidiary Questions , Incidental Questions , and Privi - 
leged Questions. 

QUORUM, origin of the term, meaning of, and its necessity, 
the quorum different in different bodies, . 
in Congregational and Baptist churches, , . 

in Baptist associations, ... . . 

in religious bodies on a money basis, . 
no business can be transacted without, • . , 

less than, may adjourn from day to day, . 


ea 

70 

71 

72 

73 

74 
76 


20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 


READING PAPERS, when laid before the house, each 

member has the right to have them read, . .158 

but no one can have a book or paper read whenever 
he pleases, or even read his own speech, . . 159 

motion to read papers not debatable, , . • 100 

RECEPTION, question of, on report, .... 212 

RECONSIDERATION, not in use in England, . , , 142 

who can make the motion,.143 

if no rule to the contrary, the motion can be Eiade as 

any other,. 144 

motion to, brings up the merits of the question for dis¬ 
cussion, . 145 

status of a proposition reconsidered, • . . 146 

cannot be moved a second time,.147 

what motions can, and what cannot be reconsidered, 148,149 
one cannot move to reconsider, and then move that his 


motion lie on the table, 

RECORDING OFFICER, qualifications of, 
what records he is to make, 

his duties,. 

the first named, the ohief secretary, , 
RESOLUTION, what, . 

RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF MEMBERS, 
SECONDING OF MOTIONS, . 


150 

. 47 
. 48 
. 49 
. 60 

31, 54 
177-181 
. Of 





INDEX. 


n 


SUBSIDIARY QUESTIONS, occasions for them, a /d their 

names, . . . . . • 77, 80, 1 , 82 


motions to postpone, • 

lie on the table, . . • 

postpone to a time definite, 
previous question, . . 

indefinite postponement, • 

commitment, . . • 

amendment. 


. 83 

. 84-89 

. 90-94 

. 96-108 

. 109-113 
. 114-117 
. 118-139 


SUSPENSION OF A RULE, when appropriate, . . 162 

vote necessary to,.163 

motion not debatable,.163 

TRANSPOSITION of propositions, how effected, . . 139 

VOTE, what,.31 

WITHDRAWAL of a motion in the power of the mover 

until a vote is taken, . . . . .67 

after a vote, leave must be asked, a majority vote 

sufficient for,.67, 161 

YEAS AND NAYS, peculiar to this country, and probably 

to be confined to legislative bodies, . . . 226 

how the question is stated, . . . • 227 

no further debate after the vote begins, . . . 228 

every one under obligation to vote, etc., . . . 229 

no one can vote who was absent, and no one can ;har ge 
his vote,.229 


number competent to demand.230 

PROTESTS, rule for.231 

































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